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r
4?^ 151 j^
f^arbarl) CoUegt Itbrars
CHARLES MINOT
OUm oi 1SS8
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^*
A STAFF OFFICER'S
SCRAP-BOOK
VOLUME II
117
- Mrs
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• MILTON, K.C.n
v;.'.N-S. MAPS AND ri..\s>
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iiKi: N .S. CO.
• \ ;' ;> ARNOLD
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1
0
A STAFF OFFICER'S
SCRAP-BOOK
DURING THE RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR
BT LIBVT.-OBNBRAL
Sib IAN HAMILTON, K.C.B.
WITH ILLTJSTBATIONS, MAPS AND PLANS
IN TWO VOLUMES
VOLUME II
NEW YORK
LONGMANS, GREEN & CO.
LONDON: EDWARD ARNOLD
1907
lAU Hffktt mervad]
cl
/J7./;
lyii/Yvc^ ^^ ^<^ '
PREFACE
The spectator who elbows his way into the playhouse
on a crowded first night is mainly taken up with the
struggle towards his seat, the effect of his white
waistcoat, the purchase of a programme and the dis-
posal of his hat. The curtain rises ; the actors play
their parts, the scene shifts, the plot thickens. The
spectator now sits in the shadow, passive and detached,
watching with wrapt attention the development of
the drama.
And so it was with me. At first the small things
seemed to matter most. But afterwards, when images
of battle swept to the sound of dreadful clang and shout
through the smoke-clouds of the shrapnel ; when army
rushed to meet army, and in the shock of their encounter
strewed the country with corpses — ^then, I seemed for
a moment to see clearly the warrior spirit of Japan as
it emerged, triumphant, from the bloody tumult.
I speak of what I have seen and heard, and leave
the rest to the reader. The deeper his insight the
more intimate will be his sympathy with the great-
vi Preface
hearted patriotism which animated all ranks in
Kuroki's force. Mutual understanding is the only-
bed-rock upon which alliances, whether diplomatic or
matrimonial, can find enduring foundations. Flatteries,
cajoleries, exaggerations, insincerities, are the prelude
to disillusionment, if not to divorce.
Ian Hamilton.
TiDWORTH,
February 2\, 1906.
CONTENTS OF VOLUME II
OHAP.
XIX.
XX.
XXI.
XXII.
XXIII.
XXIV.
XXV.
XXVI.
XXVII.
XXVIII.
XXIX.
XXX.
XXXI.
XXXII.
XXXIII.
XXXIV.
XXXV.
XXXVI.
XXXVII.
XXXVIII.
PAGE
Reflections by the Way 1
The Battle op the Twenty-sixth of August . 36
The Russians Retire 59
With the Guards Division 75
KuROKi Crosses the Taitsuho .... 88
Manjuyama 102
LlAOYANG 122
Sojourn at Fenshan 145
The Armies in Contact 171
Okasaki's Dashing Assault 187
The Battle Continues 209
Ota's Sun-Flag 230
The Assault of the Tall Hill .... 244
The Russians recross the Shaho .... 257
The Little Man in Green 264
Banquets and Revels 277
Nakamura encounters Santa Claus . . 290
The Devil's Ploughing 306
Nanshan and Telissu 320
Fuji Veils Her Face 349
Index 365
ILLUSTRATIONS
Major-General Fajii, Chief of the Sta£f, First Army . • • Fnnuitpieet
A Good Comrade TQfi^eejKige 12
Colonel Kawasaki and Lt-General NiBhijima .... »i 44
Swallow's Nest Hill and the Pontoon across the Taitsuho . . „ t2
General Eoroki and Staff on Swallow's Nest HiU during the
Battle of Liaoyang ,,106
Some Officers of the 12th Division Mountain Artillery n 1^0
The CoDunander of the Mixed Brigade on the right of the
First Army, and other Officers ,,132
The Temple to the God of ChUdren on Sankwaisekisan . . „ 210
Chinese Gods in the Temple on Terayama „ 260
A Visit to the 30th Regiment in Winter Quarters at Shotatsuko „ 292
The Officer Commanding the 2nd Division Field Artillery in
his winter abode at Hamatang „ 294
Sir Ian Hamilton and *'BooBki," December 1904 ... „ 298
Japanese Field Artillery on the March in Winter ... „ 302
View from "Golden Hill" of the Japanese Transports sunk to
block the Entrance to the Harbour at Port Arthur „ 310
View of Port Arthur and the Bussian Warships from Golden
HiU, January 1905 ,.316
The British Attach6 with the 2nd Division, First Army,
Captain B. Vincent, B.Fji ,,360
Some of Nogi's Infantry on their March North from Port
Arthur . . » 366
h
MAPS AND SKETCHES
XVII. View of the Buesian Position South of Eiuchorei
(Eungchanling) taken by 2nd Division, First Army,
between 4 A.H. and 11-16 A.H., August 26, 1904 « To face page 60
XVIIL Battle of Liaoyang. First glimpse of the Plains,
August 27, 1904 n 62
XIX. Bussian Bear-Guard Action, August 28. View of
the Position in front of the 2nd Division, First
Arviy „ 70
XX. The Battle of Liaoyang as seen on August 30
and 81, 1904 „ 86
XXI. View from Swallow's Nest Hill looking Westward .
towards Manjuyama. September 1, 1904 • . „ 94
XXII. Map showing the lines of advance of the First
Japanese Army during the Battle of Liaoyang . „ 142
XXIII. General Map of the Battle of Liaoyang, showing
Bussians and Japanese ,,170
XXrV. View of the Battlefield of the Shaho from Yentai
Ck>al-Mine Hill „ 206
XXV. Sankwaisekisan (Three Great Book Hill) captured
before dawn on October 12, 1904, by the 10th
Division, Fourth Army .««... „ 212
XXVI. Sketch of Okasaki Yama from the Position of the
First Army Headquarters, October 13, 1904, cap-
tured by the 16th Brigade, 2nd Division . . „ 260
XXVII. View from the top of the Pass at Chosenrei looking
towards Penchiho „ 244
XXVIII. View from Honda Yama, the right of the Japanese
Position near Penchiho ••••«. „ 228
•g'^TT. View of the Taitsuho Valley near Weining from the
most advanced Japanese Trenches .... „ 236
XXX. View of the Japanese Position near Penchiho from
the Bussian side ,, 242
Maps and Sketches xi
XXXI. View of Gunki Yama (Standard Hill) from the
Japanese trenches at the Taling (Pass) . . Tofaoepage 2B^
XXXII. View of Talingfrom the road by which the Russians
attacked at dawn, October 12 . . . . „ 230
XXXIII. Map showing the operations of the 2nd and
Imperial Guards Divisions at the Battle of
theShaho „ 264
XXXIY. Map showing the action of Prince Eanin's Cavalry
Brigade near Penchiho on October 12 . . „ 288
XXXV. Yentai Coal-Mlne Hill— Our Winter Quarters . „ 290
XXXVI. 203 Metre Hill near Port Arthur • . • . ,,808
XXXVII. View of Port Arthur Harbour from the top of 203
Metre Hill . ,,318
XXXVIII. View of the Russian Position at Nanshan from the
Walls of Einchou „ 324
XXXIX. View looking North from the Russian Position at
Nanshan „ 326
XL. Plan of the Battlefield of Telissu .... ,,332
XLI. View from the left of the Russian Position at
Telissu, June 15, 1904 », 334
XLII. Plan of the Battle of Heikoutai .... ,,858
CHAPTER XIX
REFLECTIONS BY THE WAY
LiENSHANKUAN, August Brd, 1904. — ^The work of
the First Army as an independent unit is now ended.
All the anxieties of the General Staff, all the privations
and endurance of the officers and men, have become so
much food for history. In future we shall fight
shoulder to shoulder with our friends of the Second
and Fourth Armies — ^at present our tents are pitched
by pleasant waters where the vast shadow of the
Heaven-reaching Pass lends grateful coolness to the
air. No soldier, surely, could wish better fortune,
and yet,
** After a life spent training for the sight,"
I feel as if not even the unknown glories of to-morrow
could repay me for the home-sickness of to-<iay.
Naughty boys are tamed by being put in the corner,
but is it possible that mere isolation can overcome
an essence so divine as the spirit of adventure?
It may be so. Assuredly my depression is not
fairly chargeable to my Japanese hosts, who lose
no chance of showing me kindness, and who, ever
since the days of Fenghuangcheng, have left me
an absolutely free hand to go wherever I like and
to see whatever I may wish to see. But I must
11 A
2 A Staff Officeb's Scrap-Book
always be accompanied by an officer or a non-com-
missioned officer, and whenever I walk and wherever
I go, or whatever I do, I am unceasingly a target
for ciu'ious eyes. There is no help for it, I know,
but in coturse of time this sense of being watched gets
upon the nerves and I long with an intense longing
for one of the two most secluded situations of the
world — the desert of the Sahara or a hansom cab in
London.
I went this afternoon for a walk with Sergeant-
Major Sumino. I gathered from him that the men are
burning to advance, and that there is a saying current
amongst them to the effect that the way back to Japan
lies through Liaoyang. Also, he tells me that two days
ago the horse of a Russian officer was shot, and that in
the wallets were found hollow-nosed, or dum-dum,
revolver bullets. He hinted that if the officer
had been caught he would have had short shrift.
He had hardly finished speaking, and I was in hopes
of getting him to go on, when our promenade was
interrupted.
About four miles out from Lienshankuan, the road
we were pursuing led us over a little saddle or col.
Just as we reached the top, my heart stood still as I
found myself face to face with a column of Russians
who were marching up from the other side. It took
two seconds at least to realise that I was not con-
fronted by the formidable invaders of the Himalaya, as
they periodically appear in the imaginations of our
frontier officers, but by an unhappy batch of prisoners
coming in from the Yushuling battlefield. There
were sixty of them under a small escort. They all
wore 34 or 35 on their shoulder-straps. A large pro-
portion of these prisoners were fine-looking men who
Rbflbctions by ths Way 3
might have been drafted into the ranks of our Guards
forthwith, and only four or five of them at the most
had the very heavy, dull, half-finished features and
expression I had noticed in the prisoners taken on the
Motienling. Some were old — forty ; some looked ill ;
all looked exhausted, with hollow, pinched cheeks and
weary eyelids. It was sad indeed to see brave soldiers
reduced to such an extremity.
With the party were two lieutenant-colonels, a
captain and a doctor. The doctor spoke German
furchtha/r schlechty and asked me if I was a journalist.
When I said I was a British officer, he and the other
officers to whom he passed the information very
politely exchanged salutes with me. The senior lieu-
tenant-colonel asked the doctor to inquire if I could
induce the corporal to let them sit down and rest
for ten minutes, as they were deadly tired, having
marched that day all the yray from Chaotao. I
easily persuaded Sumino to arrange this. The doctor
said the battle had been bloody and the losses terribly
heavy. I daresay I could have got a good lot of
interesting information out of him ; but on the one
hand Sumino was on pins and needles at this un-
authorised conversation taking place when I was
under his charge, and on the other I felt so sorry for
the poor fellows that I did not like to bother them
with questions. I went on, therefore, and left the
dreary little party sitting on the top of the coh As
soon as were alone, Sumino expressed to me his
astonishment that officers who had been taken prisoners
could accommodate themselves so easily to their lot.
I said, " How can you say they do not care ; they
seemed to me very sad." " Ah," he replied, ** but they
ought to be quite desperate ! "
/
4 A Statf Officer's Scrap-Book
LiENSHANKUAN, August 4th^ 1904. — One of the
Staff looked in soon after six o'clock this morning and
so caught me before I was dressed. He came to
announce that the Second Army had entered Haicheng
last night. The Fourth Army was ready to co-operate,
but as there was no opposition they have remained at
Takubokujo,* from the vicinity of which the Russians
have now cleared away. I expressed some surprise
that Nodzu, with the Fourth Army, was not pressing
up to stretch out his hand to Kuroki so as to
close the dangerous gap on our lefib. My friend
replied :
^* That movement is not so easy in Manchuria as it
would be at the Staff College. Owing to the efforts of
our line of communications staff we ourselves have
munitions and food-supplies sufficient to justify us in
advancing to-morrow, but^ do you believe that behind
the Second and Fourth Armies enough stores have been
collected to enable them to march vigorously forward ?
So as to show, I mean to say, the full quickness of the
Japanese foot ? We must reserve all lightning move-
ments for essays on tactics, and meanwhile we do not
quite know what to make of the unopposed entry of
Oku into Haicheng. Perhaps its garrison had been
withdrawn to overwhelm our Twelfth Division at
Yushuling, or perhaps Kuropatkin is going to concen-
trate. If so, the agitating question which we have to
put to ourselves is whether he will make his stand at
Anshantien, at Liaoyang, or at some point still further
to the north. These are, in my opinion, the three
alternatives, but there are officers — and I am not sure
that Marshal Kuroki does not share their opinion — who
think it is still possible that the enemy may conceiitrate
* Ohinese, Tomuoheng.
Eeflections by the Way 5
in great force to our front and attack us in our present
position. I wish I could believe there was any chance
of this happening, for we should then be saved the
cruel anxiety of groping still further into these horrible
mountains. But, alas, I fear the Btissians won't accept
the risk. It would take Kuropatkin some time to col-
lect sufficient troops for an attack upon us here, and
Oku and Nodzu are not the men to sit inactive whilst
forces are being withdrawn from their front for such a
purpose. From the outpost line of Sasaki's Brigade
the heights overlooking Liaoyang can plainly be dis-
tinguished, and the First, Fourth and Second Man-
churian Armies are now close enough together to
be able to co-operate, at least to the extent of prevent-
ing one force being overwhelmed whilst the others look
on."
I said, ^* I admit the mountains in front of us look
very forbidding, but it is ungrateful of you to call them
horrible or speak of groping into them, for they suit
the Japanese tactics, armament and personnel much
better than those of the Kussians, and after all, how-
ever formidable a mountain may be, it can usually be
turned."
My visitor agreed, and added that the attack of
July 31st could not have been carried out unless the
mountains had furnished a screen behind which the
flanking movemeut could be made.
I asked him if the Guards were at all downcast by
their failure on that occasion to get in on the enemy's
right. He replied, ** On the contrary ; the Chief Staff
Officer of the Imperial Guards, in reporting the losses
of the Division, added a remark to the effect that it
was most fortunate that the enemy had defended them-
selves with vigour, as the Divisional Commander,
(S A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
Lieutenant-General Hasegawa, had thus been enabled
to test the quality of his troops."
KiNKAHOSHi,* August Sth, 1904. — Have moved with
Kuroki into new quarters on the western side of the
Motienling. Not a bad little house, and we are all
busy making a garden and transplanting wild flowers
into it. This afternoon an adjutant in the Imperial
Guards told me that Nogi had " as good as captured "
the two hills on the Russian extreme right at Port
Arthur, within 5000 yards of the harbour. There is
now only one line of fortifications remaining between
Port Arthur town and the Japanese. A furious
battle had been raging all the night of the 7th, and
up to midday to-day, when the message was sent.
lu My room ie a J of Germ» mix«l bLuito (m«i.
up for Chinese consumption to resemble as nearly as
possible the time-honoured tins used by a famous
English firm), and two bottles of champagne. I am
on my honour not to touch these until Port Arthur
falls. So I look at them every day with the feelings
of a ragged urchin who flattens his nose against the
plate-glass window of a pastry-cook's shop. I now
begin to have hope, and I asked my young friend
when he thought I might put away the causes of my
hourly temptation. He thinks about the 12th instant,
which will suit me very well.
KiNKAHOSHi, August 9th. — ^Walked over with an
orderly to call on Vincent and the foreign officers
attached to the headquarters of the Second Division
at the village of Tiensuitien. Found the river in flood,
and practically unfordable on foot. On the other side
a coolie of the military train was engaged in washing
* ChineBe, Chinchiaputsu, two miles south of Tiensuitien, See
Map XXII.
Reflections by the Way 7
a shirt. Seeing my difficulty he went up to the village
and brought down a pony which he rode across and
offisred to me. I got on to the pony, and the coolie
led me over with great difficulty, as the rushing water
came up to his waist. I returned by the help of the
same kind man, and when I got to my own side of the
river I offered him the equivalent of five shillings. As
soon as he understood that I wanted to tip him he
simply roared with laughter and utterly declined to
have anything to say to the base metal which, compared
with his pay of 1^. a day, was a considerable fortune.
In vain the orderly I had brought with me explained
that I was a foreigner who did not understand things,
and that as I was possessed of a plethora of cash, it
might, after all, be as well to humour me. He replied,
that although only a coolie he wore the military
uniform, and his heart also was purely that of a soldier,
and so I had to let him go back across the river
unrewarded, except by my heartfelt thanks.
On my return to Kinkahoshi, I found that an
officer of the Guards, whose acquaintance I had made
at Fenghuangcheng, had ridden over to see me. In
the course of conversation he told me that amongst the
miasses of correspondence captured on July 31st by the
Twelfth Division at Tushuling was a tabular state-
ment dated Harbin, July 3rd, in which the strength
and composition of the Japanese forces is duly set
forth. Hagino has translated it into Japanese, and
its perusal throws light on much that has hitherto
been obscure. According to the statement, Kuroki's
army is put at just double its actual strength. It is
supposed to consist of six Divisions of which the
strength, the names of most of the commanders, and
all the regiments are given in detail. Euroki is also
I
i
8 A Staff Officbb's Scrap-Book
credited with an independent cavalry brigade, which,
on the date of publication, was supposed to be quartered
at SaimachL One of the imaginary Divisions is
cantoned at Hamaton by the Talu ! The independent
cavalry brigade is a magnificent Russian tribute to the
impression created by the solitary squadron of the
Twelfth Division! Of the imposing total of six
Divisions, three were shown at Fenghuangcheng ; one
was at Antung, one at Kuantienchen, and one, as
already stated, at Hamaton. The Second Army was
placed with its four Divisions just south of Nanshan
and at Dalny, whilst the Fourth Army, consisting of
three Divisions, was at Takushan and Siuyen. (See
Map L, voL i.)
Imagination is a valuable qualification for an
intelligence officer, provided it is kept quite clear of
statistics. Once, however, fancy is permitted to play
about with figures, the results are apt to be disastrous.
The retreat on July 17th is now easy to understand,
and if Bennenkampf has truly believed that there was
a cavalry brigade at Saimachi and a Division at
Hamaton he may well be excused for not having
made more vigorous attempts upon our communica-
tions.
Whilst discussing the recent fighting, I mentioned
to my friend the remark made to me by the young
doctor of Sokako, to the effect that strong anti-
Bussian feeling accounted to some extent for the
intense keenness of the Japanese rank and file. Much
to my interest he indorsed the doctor's views in words
almost identical. He said, ^^Our army will always
eagerly go forward to do battle with whomsoever
his Majesty the Emperor may designate. But this
Russian war is certainly an exception, in so far that
I
Reflections by the Way 9
each private soldier enters into it with burning feelings
of personal anger which are a legacy of all the
rapacity and deception and contempt displayed by
E/Ussia towards Japan for a long time past. I do
not go so far as to say that our men would fight less
courageously against other nations, but I do agree
with the doctor in thinking that in such a case we
should not see young soldiers denying themselves river
water when consumed with thirst lest perchance a colic
might lose them even one single chance of firing off
their bullets at the enemy."
Kjmkahoshi, Atiffust Idth^ 1904, — Pouring with
rain. Doctor Sugiura has been delegated by head-
quarters to tell me that on the 10th inst. the whole
of the Russian fleet came out of Port Arthur in battle
array and were met and completely defeated by Togo.
The Askoldy Bayan^ Cesarewitch escaped to Kiaochau ;
the Novik showed a clean pair of heels and got away.
The rest of the enemy's fleet fled back into Port
Arthur. More than this, yesterday at daybreak
Eamimura met the Vladivostock fleet north of Tsushima
and sank the Rurihj the other two Russian ships
escaping north. Headquarters are overjoyed and
Sugiura says they expect that Port Arthur will fall
in three or four days, and that the fleet will become
the spoil of the conquerors. Moreover, a fresh army
will thus be released to reinforce our line of battle at
Liaoyang.
After Sugiura's departure, I had a delightful visit
from a colonel commanding a line regiment, an old
Fenghuangcheng acquaintance. He tells me that
twenty years ago only some three or four of the year's
recruits for each company in the Japanese army were
able to read or write. The officers, therefore, had to
10 A Staff Offioeb's Scbap-Book
set themselves to be schoolmasters of primary schools,
as it was absolutely necessary that the brains of the
men should be awakened and exercised in the first
instance ; otherwise it was useless to expect them to
make good progress with then* military training.
'* Now," he said, " every single recruit who joins can
read, whilst, at the very most, there may be three or
four who cannot write. The first essential to the
equipment of a modern soldier is a good education.
The Russian Government, in order to maintain the
stability of its despotism, finds it undesirable to
educate its people, forgetful of the fact that on military
grounds this has become quite necessary. The fact
of the matter is that conscription is only applicable to
an educated, intensely patriotic nation like Japan*
Otherwise it is impossible to teach the soldier all that
is required of him in the very limited time. When
England is educated up to our level, then she can have
conscription, if she cares to do so, but at present she
shows her great wisdom in enlisting only men of a
natural martial inclination, and in giving them a very
thorough training before they are passed into the
reserves. Conscription, with its system of short colour
service, and masses of rusty reserves insufficiently
welded together by officers and N.C.O.s of the reserve,
is capable of proving a broken reed in time of trouble
especially if, as with Russia in the present case, the
national feeling has not a natural warlike bias. Russia,
above all nations, should have provided herself with a
long-service voluntarily enlisted army, and in that
case we should have encountered a very diflFerent type
of fighting man in our recent battles."
These views were put forward with a sublime un-
consciousness which disarmed my ruffled pride. Do
Eeflections by thb Way 11
they not, after all, contain more than a grain or two
of truth ? Conscription does not keep the uneducated
man long enough with the colours to make him fully
capable of meeting all the conditions under which
modem battles must be fought. These conditions —
the magazine rifle, smokeless powder, wide extensions,
&c. &c. — ^make much heavier demands upon the time,
willingness and intelligence of the recruit than at any
period in the world's history. Simultaneously all
Continental nations, owing to popular pressure, are
reducing their colour service to an extent which in
the old days would have seemed to constitute a militia
standard. Besides being an infinitely more trustworthy
support to a Government in time of internal trouble, a
long-service voluntarily enlisted army ought also to
be very much more effective in the field. I do not
forget that in Russia the colour service is exception-
ally long ; still, it is not long enough, taking into
consideration the protracted winters when no work is
done ; the slackness with which duties are carried out
even in summer and, most of all, the intense initial
ignorance of the raw material.
EiNKAHOSHi, August 17th, 1904. — Still pouring.
Exercise impossible. Roaring torrents in all directions.
There is talk amongst the men that every one is going
on to half rations. I shall then be able to sympathise
with the man in my own column in South Africa who,
on reading the order thanking the force for their
gallantry and announcing the necessity for a further
reduction in the issue of beef and biscuit, said, *' Just
the old story ; full compliments and half rations."
At dinner to-day I had a disappointment. A dish
was brought forward with much pomp, which excited
my keenest hopes. It was shaped like a pyramid, and
12 A Staff Officer's Sgbap-Book
they called it " German pudding." It turned out to
be mashed potatoes sweetened with sugar. To the
Devil with all such puddings !
EiNKAHOSHi, August l%ih^ 1904. — It has been pour-
ing in torrents ever since the last entry^ and under
such conditions my official report's and this diary have
become my only distractions.
I have had a good deal of conversation at odd times
lately concerning the marked distinction the Japanese
make between a commander and a Staff officer. To
them the two classes stand as sharply contrasted as a
bowler does to a batter. Our allies never confound
commanders and Staff officers under the hackneyed
label of " able officer." Every one knows the qualifica-
tions of the Staff officer: energy, tact, acciu*acy,
erudition, industry, health and horsemanship ; without
which last two all the others may be lost just when
they are most wanted. But it is not every one who
knows how little, and yet how very much, the
Japanese require of their commanders. They seem
to insist on one quality only, a quality which bulks
in their eyes so largely that items such as reputation,
judgment, character and even innate love of fighting
fall into quite a secondary position. ** Du ccdme ; il a
du ccdme,*^ say the French-speaking Japanese when
praising a commander. ** Er ist kalthlUtig" say the
speakers of German.
Some three weeks ago, discussing with me the
action of the Twelfth Division at Chaotao on the 1 9th
of July, a distinguished young Staff officer said:
"Before the attack I was very nervous; terribly
nervous. I could not sleep at night, and all the Staff
were restless and disturbed. But Kuroki was not
troubled. Oh no ; he was quite tranquil I " I did
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Beflbchons bt the Wat 13
not take this too literally, as I know the Staff in their
unwavering loyalty to Kiu*oki are capable of making
an imputation against themselves, provided at the
same time they are able to do honour to their chief.
Still, the remark throws a light on the Japanese
standard for a general's qualifications. I have put it
to Japanese officers that there is no more difficult
quality to recognise than that of true imperturbability.
They assent readily, and admit that until a man has
been tried by fire it is not possible to say whether he
will be prepared to stake 10,000 human lives with a
stout heart.
It seems then that the supreme qualification for a
Japanese General, as understood by his fellow
countr3rmen, is a philosophy which enables him to be
calm under any circumstances and a record which
guarantees that he possesses this attribute actually,
and not only in seeming. Mere knowledge of regula-
tions, languages, military history, science, are qualities
which should be embodied in a Chief of the Staff who
acts for the commander, just as a shorthand writer
acts for a financier. This is the theory. But in
practice, brains will tell, and the power of the Greneral
Staff is becoming enormous. Kuroki's method is in
ordinary times to leave as much as possible to his Staff.
He stands by, cool and aloof, and lends the great
prestige of his name and reputation when orders are
given and arrangements are made. His true value
lies in doing little beyond taking responsibility as long
as things go well. In a supreme emergency, as I shall
more than once have occasion to point out, he is capable
of taking the greatest risks entailing the heaviest
responsibility, but generally speaking he is content to
let the Staff carry on without too much interference.
^^^'^^g^^^mmmm^mm^^^^^^W^^tm
14 A Staff Officer's Scbap-Book
At this particular moment Kuroki assumes much the
same attitude to his General Staff as the Mikados
used to do to their Shoguns. The Japanese mind
seems readily to lend itself to the system of one man
supporting all the weight, pomp, and responsibility of
a position, whilst another man works free and un-
trammelled in the shadow afforded by that latent
power.
It is extraordinarily interesting to a foreigner
to see the organisation in this transitional state. If
the same type of Generals and the same type of
General Staff officers continued to be appointed for
many years to come, I have no doubt whatever that
the commander would recede more and more into the
background, whilst the Chief of the General Staff
would step more and more to the front. But after
this war some of the new type of highly educated
Staff officers will be senior enough to be made com-
manders. It will be curious to see if they initiate a
different principle, or whether the Japanese will prefer
to perpetuate the present arrangement of keeping many
of the moving spirits in the backgrotmd.
Meanwhile, at its present stage of development, the
system works well. I take it that Kuroki, with his
renown, his popularity in Japan, and his perfect,
philosophical calm, really does relieve the more nervous,
modern General Staff of a weight of responsibility
which might otherwise to some extent paralyse their
plans. I do not take it that the Japanese think that
education necessarily impairs the quality of calmness.
What they seem to think is that calmness, like noble
birth, is quite independent of cleverness, and that
where the qualities can be recognised, the clever man
should be made the servant of the imperturbable
Reflections bt the Way 15
philosopher, especially if this latter has the good luck
to have been bom in the purple.
I feel, of course, that even this combination of
strength and ability does not by any means complete
the category of the virtues required of the head of an
army in the field. There is the imaginative flair to
which mountains offer no concealment ; the eye for
country which is inborn and can yet be so greatly
improved by practice in war ; to the quickness in seizing
an opportunity ; the iron character which brushes all
objections aside, and the engaging personality which
fascinates subordinates and half disarms even a jealous
rival
It is strange indeed how little the Japanese are
influenced by the personality of a commander. Indi-
vidualism is a western, not an eastern, product. I
doubt very much if the average Japanese has the
capacity for hero-worship of living men. So far as I
can discover, there is less personal enthusiasm for
their superior commanders amongst Japanese soldiers
than I should have expected, admirably qualified as
these commanders are to inspire the warmest affection.
There is the same indifference to the divisional and
brigade conmianders, and even to regimental or bat-
talion commanders. The old feudal feeling has become
transformed into respect for the officers as a caste,
and not to the officers as individuals. Japanese
discipline seems to produce a curious quality of
impersonality. I firmly believe that if Kuroki changed
places with Nogi, either army would be delighted to
receive the distinguished leader of the other. Perhaps
I am mistaken, but at any rate I am not writing all
this down without having first taken thought and
trouble in forming an opinion. Comparing Japanese
16 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
subalterns with those of other nations, I should say
that they are more bound up in their profession and
have fewer distractions than their western conjrhres.
There are few virtues, however, which have not
some compensating weakness to counterbalance them,
and this devotion to duty is no exception to the
rule.
As far as I can grasp the characters of the subordi-
nate Japanese officers, they seem to be extremely good
at carrying out orders, but are not distinguished by
any exceptional self-confidence when acting on their
own initiative in ordinary matters, although I am
bound to add that their apparent want of moral
courage in such respects often seems to be transformed
into boldness when they come actually into contact
with the enemy. A few are very clever, but, generally
speaking, they find full scope for their interests in
looking after their men and in the thorough perform-
ance of their daily work. According to our ideas, they
live on very familiar terms with the rank and file. In
one village not far fi:om here, the officer commanding
a battalion is quartered in the same house with
eighteen of his men, and I have seen a lieutenant
playing " 5^0 " with his own private soldiers, though I
doubt if this was quite correct, even according to the
Japanese standard.
On the other hand, there is no falling off in discipline
such as would inevitably result in our army, and still
more so in most continental armies, if such familiarity
was permitted. The saluting is splendid, just as
smart and as good as it was in Tokio, and the severity
and sharpness of the orders and remarks which pass on
duty show that the officers have in no wise been com-
pelled, by the hardships or promiscuity of active
Reflections by the Way 17
service, to relax in the smallest degree their severe
and rigid disciplinary code.
The fact that the Japanese military forces have been
strictly modelled on the Prussian organisation helps to
explain some of its characteristics. One of the most
striking features of the Japanese, as of the Prussian,
army, and a great source of its efficiency, is to be
found in its indiflference to the personality of its
leaders, whilst retaining a full sense of respect for any
qualified leader as such. This quality alone is almost
sufficient to ensure their success against hostile forces
conunanded by mediocrities. For the Western Euro-
peans as well as the Russians follow the individual and
not the mere epaulet, and unless this individual com-
mands their respect and admiration they will not, and
cannot,put forth their full strength. On the other hand,
if a Bussian Skobeleff were now to appear upon the
scene — ^brilliant, swift, daring — adored by his troops
and possessing the true military imaginative instinct,
then I believe the Japanese might find that there was
an element in Western warfare with which they have
not yet been called upon to count.
KiNKAHOSHi, August 19«A, 1904. — Still pouring.
The men are being put on short rations, and the
Chinese fear that if the unseasonable deluge continues
their ripening crops will be rusted. After breakfast,
I was handed a present from Tokio — a bottle of beer
and a copy of a book in a white cover, " Bushido, the
Soul of Japan," by Inazo Nitobe. Every military
attach^ with the First Army gets a similar gift, which
comes firom Army Headquarters in Tokio.
Some drafts from the Second Division are marching
past the house. They are the cream of the young
manhood of the north-east of Japan ; physically tho
II B
18 A Staff , Officer's Scrap-Book
pick of the whole island, going to join their fellows and
keep the dwindling cadres up to full strength.
Compare this homogeneous, complete organisation,
not only complete at the starts but with all its apparatus
in good order for remaining complete under all con-
ditions— compare it with our patchwork, extemporised,
motley crew of regulars, colonials, militia, volunteers,
yeomanry I How have we carried through the great
things we have done in the past, and how are we going
to continue to do all the great things we mean to do
in the future? Partly, I take it, because in each
Englishman, whether toWn or country bred, there
exists, atrophied perhaps, but still living, a sense, a
*sentiment, a memory, which vibrates to the stirring
sound of the call to arms. Partly because of our cap-
tains and subalterns, so many of whom possess natural
aptitude for leading, and who can thus carry not only
their own countrymen but even alien races with them
in times of difficulty and danger.
The drafts are still marching by. Poor fellows, they
would be a sad sight for their mothers to-day ! Here
is true war shorn of its tinsel trappings. Woebegone
lads, pale and hollow-cheeked, plastered from head
to foot with mud, whilst the pitiless rain streams off
their caps and capes in miniature cascades as they
squelch through the sticky clay or ford the torrents
which sweep across the road.
Has any one ever considered the extraordinary differ-
ence in the conditions under which men face death in
battles on sea and on land ? If the bluejacket feels a
bit hot, he can take off his blue jacket. If he feels
cold, he slips on a sweater. When the enemy is sig*
nailed he is ordered (under the flag of the Bising Sun)
to change his underclothing lest perchance a shred of
EEFLlKTriONS BY THE WaY 19
foul linen be carried into a wound. After this, he
may BtiU have time to make all snug within by a nice
hot cup of tea or a tot of saki. Should he get wounded
there is a doctor at his elbow. He has no temptation
to run away. Only its own commander can put a ship
to flight. There was a friend of mine who when he
was a boy used to know an old pensioner who had
been a sergeant at the battle of Waterloo. Over and
over again the old man had to tell his blood and
thunder story to the eager boy. Time after time this
boy asked the veteran, " And did you not want to run
away?" To which invariably the same answer was
returned, " Where was I to run to ? " This is the
precise position of the sailor, with all its advantages
as well as its one obvious drawback.
On the other hand, think of the soldier of an in-
fantry battalion, half dead with the fatigue of a night
march carried out in some infernal extreme of climate,
wet and shivering, or exhausted with heat and thirst ;
scrambling up mountains carrying 50 or 60 lb. on
his back and with hundreds of people shooting at him ;
charging the enemy, coming under fire of the second
line; his captain killed, his subalterns and colour-
sergeant wounded ; no difficulty now in shirking ; lots
of opportunity to skulk — ^lots of temptation ; but no,
on he goes; in his path flows a river, its waters
whipped white by the bullets ; never a pause — onwards
is the word — up to his armpits in the water — he
reaches the further bank; he fixes his bayonet, and
amidst the rip of rifles and crackling showers of
shrapnel raises the loud exultant cheer and gets right
home. Well, each service has special hardships no
doubt. The seaman has the consolation that if the
ship founders all go down together ; the landsman has
so A Stafv Of<ickb^s 3cftAP-BoOK
anyway solid mother earth under his weary feet. I'ood
and conveniences are not everything and life on board
a torpedo-boat is, I believe, not exactly a bed of roses^
but still, honour, great honour, to the soldier of the
line, say I, for on his head he does it) God bless
hiau
EjpncAHOSHi, At(,gvM 21s«, 1904. — Driselilig. Pei>
sistent rumours of an early advance. I hear that at
Poi*t Arthur, Nogi has secured a footing on an important
col between two hills which overlook Pigeon Bay
on the one side and a peimanent fort on the other.
Also, that on the Japanese left, half of the crest of a
hill has been captured, a capture which, in the
Chinese war, was the immediate precursor of the fall
of the citadel.
The Headquarters Staff are amused at some
European appreciations of our situation, which have
found their way into the Japanese newspapers. It
seems that, on the map, we have already reached a
spot north or north-east of Mukden. The critics have
evidently not paused to figure out the enormous
nimiber of carts we should require to march from our
base to the Talu to attain such dangerous isolation.
It should be remembered that a Japanese soldier must
have his pound of rice per diem, for, if man does
not live by bread alone, neither can he continue to
exist for long on patriotism and water. We are
not little tin soldiers, but must draw our rations,
or die !
I have read ''Bushido" and drunk the bottle of
beer. I am glad I have read the book, and sorry I
have finished the beer. Mr. Inazo Nitobe writes
admirably, and his work has furnished me, as it must
every one who reads it, with much matter for thought.
f^^^m'^m'^ i^i iL .. ^^^^mm^mmm^m^K^ss^am^BaseamBm!^.
Keflbctions by the Way 21
The main question which each of us must ask him-
self is whether a feudal code can possibly hold its
own against the exigencies of modem life. I yield
to no one in my admiration for the knightly virtues
of the old Samurai. But the Samurai are already
men of yesterday, and so, if the old Bushido lingers
awhile, it is as a transient shadow falling athwart a
threshold from which the guest has already taken
his first irrevocable step on a far journey.
I study the Japanese from morning to night ; I talk
to them, walk with them, eat with them, and
drink with them also, whenever there is anything
worth drinking. I am watching them all the time,
for I have little else to do. As a result of my patient
investigations, everything about these strangers is
becoming so obscure and contradictory that I can
only marvel at the temerity I displayed in dashing
down what purported to be an analysis of their
characters before I had lived with them a month.
For instance : the modesty of the Japanese is a
trait which above all others has won my profound
and unstinted respect. Never has there been so much
as a tinge of exidtation or what, in its most vulgar
form, our colonials call " blowing," about the officers,
non-commissioned officers or men of the First Army.
There have been many unconscious revelations of a
sense of superiority to the European, but I cannot
call to mind one single occasion of a sober Japanese
making a consciously swaggering remark, even in the
triumphant reaction immediately after a victory.
It has always been a special pleasure to recognise
and do homage to so generous, high and knightly
a quality, but now a comer of the veil has been uplifted,
and lo. I seem to perceive a figure 11^.^ that of Pride
.«t_J-"^*k. "fi
22 A Staff Officeb's Scrap-Book
sitting throned upon the Japanese heart in great aloof-
ness. The Japanese do not boast after a victory because
they are incapable of imagining for one moment that
they are not going to win. Bad men may bet on
certainties, only fools would boast about them. I am not
a theologian, and do not feel called upon to say whether
this quality is to be ranked amongst the cardinal virtues
or the deadly sins. Certainly self-reliance was con-
sidered by the Bomans a virtue of the first order.
Possimt quia posse videntur. But I am siure, never-
theless, that whatever the quality may be, it is not
modesty.
Another quality for which I have been anxiously on
the watch is that of gratitude — the capacity for grati-
tude. Here again in the midst of my heart-searching
endeavours to reconcile conflicting evidences, I stumbled
against that same stony figure of Pride barring the
way to meek and gentle gratitude which otherwise
would be so frequent and welcome a visitor to the
Japanese heart. Our allies are always truly and un-
feignedly thankful for small mercies. An act of con-
sideration or politeness or generosity or hospitality
they will repay, if they can, fourfold. But weightier
obligations are supported by them, it seems to me,
nobly perhaps, but with eflfort and diflElculty. In
writing thus I am thinking of four or five things, big
things which have come under my own observation.
I believe the natural instinct of the Japanese
would be to acknowledge fully and eagerly any
obligations they are under to the West were it not that,
in the case of some men, pride throttles the intention
before it can, in any way, declare itself.
My little Bushido book says nothing about either
gratitude or modesty, except on one occasion when
Reflections by the Way 23
modesty is said to be an important ingredient of the
quality of politeness. The Japanese are certainly very
proud of their politeness, and although I doubt very
much whether modesty has anything to do with it, the
politeness is no doubt very real Politeness and
pugnacity can co-existin a Japanese to an extent Europe
has not witnessed since the days when French and
English had abowing match atFontenoy asto who should
have the exquisitepleasure of discharging the firstvoUey-
The man who is capable of considering his '^ P's " and
" Q's" when hovering on the brink of eternity makes,
a good comrade when tiger hunting is to the fore, and
I feel myself at last on safe ground when I.declare that
the world has not yet seen, and certainly will never see
again, a race more devoted than the Japanese to all
ceremonious observances. To say that a Japanese
gentleman would die sooner than be impolite is inade-
quate. He would rather die a thousand deaths.
Life is not ordinarily a procession of great emer-
gencies, but even the actions of every day gain some
dignity from the virtue— or shall I call it the accom-
plishment ?— of la politesse. As a Briton, I may claim
the melancholy satisfaction of discoiirsing quite impar-
tially on the subject. Whether it is their rough
natural independence of habit or the want of that dis-
cipline which is entailed by military service, or merely
because their Governments have shirked paying the
extra twopence for the schooling of their youngsters,
the fact remains that, from the standpoints of conti-
nental Europe or of Asia, both Americans and
British are hopeless barbarians in all that concerns
etiquette.
This is rather a pity, seeing that, although super-
ficial politeness may be no more than a useful social
IW^"'W^^*»P^^»Wf^WPi^*^-' m I
24 A Staff OFFiCBaEi's Scrap-Book
lubricant, it becomes a positive quality of no mean
value when it is of the class which can be warranted
to wear well under stress of constant discomfort and
hardship. Such a warranty I gladly give to all
Japanese, although I must firmly refiise it to the
average continental European. Japanese suavity and
good manners are solid, and will stand any amount of
rough usage, whereas the urbane smiles and bows of
Europe are a mere veneer, good for drawing-rooms
and clubs, but hardly to be depended on to stand a
shower of rain or a journey in an ordinary railway
train. True politeness makes an easy travelling com-
panion ; spurious politeness is much worse than no
politeness once it is transplanted into uncongenial
surroundings.
Thus it comes that if I have to share my tiny room
with a stranger, I much prefer a Japanese officer to
the citizen of any other country but my own. At
times, it is true, the unfailing ceremony so much
oppresses my untutored mind that I long to do or say
something irretrievably vulgar and shocking. But I
recognise all the time that I am wrong, and that
manners mend the man even if they do not make
him.
I have said that Japanese poUteness is more genuine
and deep-rooted than the European variety, but I
have not yet made a very necessary qualification to
the effect that the Japanese type, though true and
permanent of its kind, is different in some respects
from that of the Western world. For if there is a
conflict between an engagement to an absent friend
and the claims of one actually present, the code requires
that the former should absolutely give way.
The most undeniable of all the virtues vaunted in
Eeflections by the Way 25
Bushido are the fortitude which welcomes death and
the honour which disdains gold. I have no need to
say much more about a courage to which each succes-
sive battle bears eloquent witness. It is not precisely
a counterpart of Western valour. There is some philo-
sophy and passivity about it; more conscious self-
sacrifice ; less Berserker joy of battle and longing to
do some glorious act. All Japanese soldiers go into
battle expecting * and prepared to conquer and die ;
brave British soldiers go into battle hopeful and
prepared to conquer or die. There is a mighty
difference between the two. Japanese officers have
constantly to explain to their men that they must
not consider the main object of a battle is to get
killed ; British officers have no occasion thus to
admonish their men, who, although they are aware
that in all probability many will bite the dust, are each
individually of the opinion that they will manage to
pull through. The faces of the two races as they
advance to the attack wear very different expressions.
But I feel that no one who has not seen for himself
will ever understand me if I try to go more deeply into
these strange things.
I will only add, then, that it displays the most
gross misconception of the truth to write, as some
continental authorities are apparently writing, about
Japanese fanaticism. As one who has some acquaint-
ance with the ghazi, I may permit myself to be
dogmatic here. In some cases, Japanese patriotism
may take the form of a deep-rooted dislike to
foreigners ; in others it may assume the guise of an
overweening contempt for everything outside their
own islands. But if such feelings are fanatical, then
surely John Bull himself is a ghazi of the most rabid
26 A Staff Offiobb's Scrap-Book
type, which is absurd. The one and only point of
superficial resemblance between the fanatic and the
Japanese soldier is the positive hope often cherished
by both that they may be privileged to die on the
battlefield. The apparent similarity will not, however,
bear close examiilation. The motives of the ghazi are
selfish. He hopes by his act to gain access to a very
material paradise where he may flirt with hosts of
houris. The motives of the Japanese are as purely
impersonal as it is possible for those of a human being
to be. Though troubling himself little about a future
life, he has a dim idea that if killed in action, his spirit
will be aware of the gratitude the Emperor and the
nation will bear him for having sacrificed himself on
their behalf. He longs to die for his country ; not in
order that he himself may reap some glorious reward,
but in the hope that he may be worthy of those who
have preceded him, and that his example may use-
fully guide the unknown generations who are to follow
him in the hereafter.
No Western can quite understand these extra-
ordinary soldiers : at one moment cold, distant,
reserved, suspicious stoics ; at another, merry laughing
children ; and then again, resigned, sad, " determined-
to-die " heroes. But one thing at least is quite certain :
the Japanese Samurai may be pbilosophersi they most
assuredly are not fanatics.
So much for the Japanese soldier's depreciation of
life, now for his disdain for pelf.
Few even of the military coolies with the Second
Division will consent to accept a tip either small or
great for service rendered, and a full private would
be infinitely insulted by the offer of a present, no
matter whether it consisted of one silver yen or a bag
BEFLBOnONS BY THE WaY 27
of gold. I admit I never tried them with the bag of
gold, but I am certain that, if I did so, over 18,000 of
the 14,000 men with the Second Division would refuse
the offer, some with horror and indignation, others
with amusement and contempt. Scorn for money is a
piece of pure Bushido, or Samurai, tradition, which has
transplanted itself, apparently without too much
difficulty, from feudalism into the army. Bat the
merchants, canteen men, photographers, and other
civilian camp followers, are as ready to turn a dis-
honest penny as their prototypes of South Africa,
where the moral atmosphere was not exceptionally
bracing. Also, although private soldiers ai'e generally
immaculate in their honesty, there are signs here and
there amongst individuals of higher status that money
is no longer the mere dross it was to their ancestors,
and that they might not in all cases be too scrupulous
as to how it was procured. True, anything I have
noticed in this respect has been on a very petty scale,
and I am convinced the main channels along which
run the public moneys of the Japanese are kept scru-
pulously sweet and clean. The soldier seems to be
endowi with -a most delicate instinct which warns
him that any tampering, or even want of due economy,
with public funds is a sin against patriotism — against
his country. The Western man is inclined to be
more lax where Gk)vemment is the keeper of the
purse ; the feeling of the Japanese is precisely
the opposite- But I wonder, in view of small signs
which have come to my personal notice, how
long the army will be able to maintain a different
and loftier standard from their brethren in civil h'fe ?
Has the noble tree transplanted from feudalism
truly struck its roots down into the new, rich soil.
28 A Staff Officeb's Sobap-Book
or is it destined soon to wither and die under
the strange conditions, quite foreign to its original
growth, which now surround it ? I pray myself that
it may endure for ever, but there is a tendency, an
inclination, just making itself visible to a friendly
observer, which will need the close attention of the
Japanese nation.
If the transition from the status of Bushido to the
status of industrialism had been more gentle and gradual,
it would then, I believe, have been easier for a Samurai
permanently to transfer some of his soldierly ideas of
honour into the service of Mammon. But the plunge
has been too violent and, in this year of grace 1904, the
Japanese knig:ht, shorn of his twin souls, his swords, has
had his heart swept and garnished in preparation for an
entirely fresh ideal of life. Only a few selected, most
valued pieces of the old knightly armoury have been
temporarily conserved, and it is these which have
rendered the descendants of the Samurai invincible in
the field. But the emblematic swords are gone never
to return, and I very much fear that the spiritual
attributes of Bushido will not long outlive them.
What is to take their place ? Is it possible for a
non-Christian nation to borrow Christian ideals ?
Do we Christians offer such an example of the
vivifying effects of our own ideals as to encourage a
new nation to adopt them ?
But if Christianity is to be rejected by the Japanese,
and if Confucius is worn out, are living, burning
beliefs to be replaced by a cold copybook code of
morals based on such maxims as ** Honesty is the best
policy " ? Can a great nation be evolved from so
unspiritual and earthly a basis ? We shall see ;
Japan may have as many surprises for us in the
Replbctions by the Wjly 29
foture as she has had in the past. It is not possible
to ima^ne a more tremendous issue. Will industrial
Japan succeed in grafting itself onto the gnarled stem
of antique tradition, or will the modern commercial
conceptions demand a fresh basis and complete
emancipation ?
There is no doubt a conceivable compromise whereby
the old spirit would linger on as a living force in the
army whilst it ceased to exist in the hearts of the civil
population. In that case another danger would menace
the Japanese Empire — the danger, namely, that the
noble spirit of the army would become dangerously
divorced from the new commercial spirit of the nation.
Even in this camp — ^amongst troops flushed with
success— burning with patriotism, there are indica-
tions to show that the military caste must hasten the
process of modernising its spirit unless it is to lose
touch with the mass of the people.
It has been impossible to remain blind to the
ultra-radical, sometimes frankly socialistic, views of
some of the civilian Japanese here who have been to
America, or to ignore their freely expressed hatred of
the caste of military officers. This is a sign of coming
trouble, for it cannot be doubted that when the few
non-military men with us furnish several examples of
such a state of mind there must be many thousands
in Japan who hold similar views. The change from
Bushido to Chicago is too violent. The sceptical,
individualistic ideas prevalent in parts of the United
States act like corrosive sublimate upon the Samurai
spirit of loyalty and self-sacrifice. The old bottles are
still in excellent condition, but it is trying them very
high to select the newest, most eifervescent, of all
vintages when they have to be refilled*
30 A Staff Officer's Scbap-Book
Here a question arises which I have fully discussed
with my Japanese military comrades. Cannot some-
thing be done to meet the danger half way? If
it is desirable that the Japanese should go slow
in matters of education, why not select venerable
places of instniction such as Oxford or Cambridge,
Edinburgh, Glasgow or St. Andrews? These hoary
institutions possess a spirit which is far less violently
at variance with the traditions of old Japan than
that, so brilliant in itself, which sparkles through the
colleges of the United States of America. The former
are capable of leading the Samurai student very
gradually and very gently to the new inevitable ideals ;
the lessons of the latter may produce good results,
but may also, as I have myself seen, be so badly
assimilated that they destroy the equilibrium of the
student. It comes to this. Do Japanese fathers and
mothers care to run even the smallest risk that their
sons may return to their native land out of harmony
with their surroundings and with a contempt — con-
cealed, perhaps, possibly arrogant and outnspoken —
for all old-fashioned things, themselves amongst the
number? Or, would they like them to preserve to
a reasonable and moderate extent, their love and
admiration for their ancestors and for the old days of
Japan? How often an Englishman, Scotchman or
Irishman may be heard to say, in answer to the question,
** Why is this so?" " It has always been so," or, " It
was good enough for my father ; it will serve for
me." Whereas, except in New England and the South,
such sentiments are not very popular in the States.
Every one must recognise that there is an American
spirit of Boston as well as an American spirit of
Chicago^ but it is the latter which oatches hold of the
Bbfleotions by the Way 31
young Japanese student, and he is apt to find it a
bit too heady. As a soldier who has studied the
American Civil War I yield to no one in admiration
for our go-ahead cousins, from their great President
downwards, but it does not necessarily follow that
they are the most wholesome companions for the
Japanese just at the present stage of their respective
developments. I would confidently send any young
relative of my own to imbibe American notions, but
I would advise the Samurai's son to refrain. Anyway,
what I am concerned at present to conclude, is :
(1) The precepts of Bushido have, to some
extent, been successfully transplanted from the
old Samurai code to the army, but have failed
signally to strike root in the domain of commerce.
Therefore, these precepts as accepted in the army
must be adapted to the new order of things or
perish. Already Bushido stirs the antagonism
of some of the foreign educated men who mean
to try and rule the new Japan. These intel-
lectuals regard military ofiioers with greater dis-
like than a German professor displays towards
a Prussian junker. They pine for the eman-
cipation of women; they burn to humble the
caste pride of the military and naval officers, and
at all costs they are bent on democratising
Japanese institutions in every direction. I am
not imagining these things. I am voicing the
feelings of Japanese civilians who have expressed
them to me on many occasions. I heartily disagree ;
but even if they are right in holding such views
I think they are premature and unpatriotic in
their desire to kill Bushido, and this desire they
have conceived, I fear, from an injudicious
^^sfssmnmmmmmmmfmmmmammmmmmmmm^'^m^mm^mmm^f^^wmm
32 A Staff Officbe's Scrap-Book
application of principles, good perhaps in them-
selves, which they have picked up in America.
(2) It would be an irretrievable loss to Japan if
Bushido was clean wiped out, leaving no trace
upon the national character.
(3) Therefore the Japanese should try and put
a drag upon the wheel, and if they must send
some of their boys abroad, they should select for
the purpose a country where people still believe
a good deal more than they care to confess in the
greatness of their great-great-grand&tthers.
To say that I have carried out the foregoing moral
reconnaissance with the diffidence which springs from
an acknowledged want of grip of my subject is to state
my want of qualification too mildly. When I try to
penetrate the Japanese mind I am baffled by contra-
diction on contradiction. The very man who speaks
of a steam hammer borrowed from Armstrong's or a
system of attack taken from Germany as if he had
originated it himself, atones for all by ending himibly,
" We have a lot still to learn — a, lot to learn." The
Japanese seem to be gifted with a much higher
nervous energy than any other Asiatics. They are
exceedingly curious and eagerly welcome any new
thing or novel idea. On mechanical points or details
they are especially inquisitive. I should say their
genius was entirely prosaic and material, were it
not for the inevitable contradiction: their love for
poetry — ^art — painting — but especially poetry. And
although the poetry consists in a great measure of
verbal conceits or puns, there is real feeling in it too.
In music the inquirer imagines he has reached one
rock of certitude amidst so much that is contra-
dictory and vague. The whole world of western
Befxjx^tions by the Way 33
music is certaiDly closed to the Japanese ; — and yet —
see a private soldier hanging in perfect rapture on the
trill of a nightingale — ^where now is the theory that
his soul is on that account dead to melody? A
Japanese cares nothing, as far as I have been able to
observe, for scenery in our sense of the word, but just
as so much seems beyond question, you find a whole
company entranced ; lost in the purest artistic admira-
tion of a waterfall. As for flowers, they are simply
adored by the whole army. The language is probably
more unlike English than any other, and yet, if the
distance is sufficient to make the listener lose the
precise words, there is a strange familiarity about the
intonation.
I fear I have been writing as if Japan had every-
thing to learn firom us. We can still teach her some-
thing, no doubt, but, in the greatest quality any nation
can possess, the power, namely, of imbuing its sons
and daughters with the idea that the public interest
comes first and the private interest comes a long way
second, we have everything to learn fi:om her. If life
is to be lifted out of the dull, ordinaiy rut, there must
be some ideal in the background which, in moments of
illumination, may reveal the possibility of existence on
a higher plane. Such moments may not often be
vouchsafed, but those are the most ready to perceive
the flash and respond to the appeal who have kept
before them a sense of patriotic obligation— a love of
their country with all that such love implies of gratitude
for its past ; hope for its future and determination to
defend it. Too often, with us, is the noble word free-
dom degraded by being confused with the right of the
individual as against the Stata What is right com-
pared with d%Jity f Is it too much to hope that the
II c
wt ^ygw
34 A Staff Offickr's Scrap-Book
coming generation at least^ may be brought up to
believe that the public good must take the first place
in each poor little life, which only thus can succeed in
catching some ray of reflected grandeur ? For a nation
lives only in the hearts of the people. When it dies
there, no wealth, no territory will save it. The Jew
from no man's land, the New York Irishman, the
French-speakingCanadian, descendant of Fraser's High-
landers, alike belong far more truly to the Jewish,
Irish or Scotch nations than some of those English-
men who are frankly selfish in their lives and cosmo-
politan in their sympathies belong to England.
CHAPTER XX
THE BATTLE OF THE TWENTY-SIXTH OF AUGUST
KiNKAHOSHi) AugiLSt 23rrf, 1904. — Immense excite-
ment. The march against Kuropatkin's communica-
tions is about to begin. What a splendid thing to be
alive, and to be here taking part in the great final trek
of the Manchurian War !
The three Divisions are to keep in their respective
positions. Guards on the left, Kuroki with the
Second Division in the centre, and the Twelfth Division
on the right. The Guards lead oflf and march to-
night westwards down the big Liaoyang road as far as
the angle where it turns again to the northwards
{see Map XXH.). They are to take the Second Division
Field Artilleiy with them, as our line of advance will
lead us over a country impracticable for anything but
infantry and mountain guns. It is rumoured that
there is a good number of the enemy on the Guards'
left flank, but it is said that the Fourth Army is
stretching out a hand to us so as to lessen our
difficulties in that direction.
The Novik has been sunk by two Japanese cruisers
going through the Hokaido Straits.
EiNKAHOSHi, August 2Uh, 1904. — I am to start at
2.30 P.M. to-morrow with Kuroki and the Head-
quarters Staff, taking three days' rations with me on
36 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
my horse and probably sleeping d la heUe etoile for the
next few nights.
Too busy making arrangements to write any more,
although the joy of an army under orders to advance
aflfords a tempting theme.
Under an oak treSy near Nidorei,* August 25thf
1904.— Writing by the light of "Mangatsu," the full
harvest moon, my heart shares the adoration with
which to-night all true Japanese regard the inconstant
orb. In every direction stretches the ripening com,
which does not, even by a rustle, break the phan-
tasmal silence, oppressive to one who knows that he
is closely encircled by a vast invisible host. Sheaves
of bayonets project with an ominous glitter from the
ears of grain, and occasional bluish ribbons of smoke
trailing up lazily towards the cloudless sky betray the
ranks of the slumbering army.
A hvi near a village called Kokahoshi,! August
26tA, 1904. — I am soaked to the skin and ravenous
withal, but excitement sends me a transient spurt of
pluck to set to work at my scribbling. We are not
going to march into Liaoyang the day after to-morrow ;
so much is clear, and it is equally evident I cannot
attempt to write a comprehensive story of the battle
until I get settled under a watertight roof. That is
to say, I must content myself nleanwhile with jotting
down my personal adventures and observations from
day to day as they arise.
At 8-30 this morning, I was awakened and told that
Kuroki and his Staff had decamped, and that I was to
follow. The moon hung very low over the mountains,
and I could hear a few dropping shots in the far
distance. After going a little way north up the
• Ghinesej Altauling (m6 Map XXII.) t Chinese^ Hochi&putso^
nw wmmmm %. 'i ymfmtim^'n i^'^i^^ . jij iiiwi n ■ — ■! i i
The Battle of the Twenty-Sixth of August 37
Tiensuitien valley, we turned westwards and climbed
about 1^ miles up a narrow nullah loading into the
next big valley.
When we got on to the watershed, we were met by
an adjutant who said that Goneral Kuroki had taken
up his position on a peak immediately to the south of
where I stood, and that he hoped I would come
up there and join him. At the very top of the
mountain, which is called Gokarei* (Map XII.), was a
patch of smooth turf surrounded by thick hazel scrub.
On the miniature lawn were set four camp chairs in a
row. I sat in great glory on the second chair from
the left between General Kuroki and H.I.H. Prince
Kuni. This is the first time I have ever seen a chair
on a battlefield, and to find myself sitting in one makes
me think of Marshal Saxe and of the good old days
when they did such things in great style.
Behind us and beneath us lay the Tieusuitien valley
running north and south, and to our front, looking
westwards, there rose, at a distance of about four miles,
a high continuous range still in the possession of the
Russians. Behind this range, but hidden by it from
our view, ran the Tangho, across which river Oyama
has ordered Kuroki to drive the enemy. All the
approaches to the position now held by the Russians
were broken up into a wild jungle of peaks, ridges and
ravines. It was a sort of country suitable for very young
men and wild goats. Take a sheet of foolscap ; crumple
it up ; pull it out again ; multiply the scale by 50,000 ;
then perhaps some adequate idea may be formed of the
configuration of the terrain {see Sketch XVII. and
Map XXII.).
The Second Division had carried the enemy's out-
* ChineBe^ Wuohialmg,
w^^'mr^^^^^^^^f^^^^^^^'^^^^mmmmm^mm^^^^^^^
38 A Staff Officbr^s Scbap-Book
post line with the bayonet by moonlight, and were
now in possession of the broken ground between us
and the high range to the westwards. They had even
made good a small portion of the main Russian
position, on their extreme right and the Russian left.
But when I came upon the scene, the centre and right
of the enemy were still maintaining their ground, and
the Japanese were mostly on the lower slopes of the
big mountains whose crests were crowned with Russian
trenches.
The first time I looked at my watch it was 7 a.m.
There was then a heavy musketry fight in progress,
the double tic-toe of the heavier Russian rifle rather
predominating. Eleven miles to our left, to the
southwest, an artillery duel had begun about an hour
previously between the sixty guns belonging to, or
attached to, the Guards, and five Russian batteries
firing from gun -pits just behind the crest lines of the
ridges. The Japanese guns were in action along the
line Roshisan-Tashinpou,* and the Russian guns were
replying from the line Daidenshi-Kohoshi t (Map
XXII. ). The little snowy smoke-balls all clustered
together over one spot look like a flock of innocent gulls
hanging over a shoal of fish. But just as a carcase is
denoted by the vultures, so too is death clearly in-
dicated by these far-off* fleecy clusters of clouds whose
iron rain can be seen even at this distance raising
clouds of yellow dust all round the Russian gun-pits.
So much for the centre and left.
About ten miles to our right, to the north, there lay
athwart the horizon a huge, black, straight-backed
mountain bearing a small knob on its far, or western,
* Chinese, Langtsusban-Tashintun.
t TatientBU-Kaofengtflu.
The Battle of the Twenty-sixth of August 39
extremity. The mountain is called Kosarei.* I am
told that all the recomiaissances have shown that this
Kosarei mountain will be a terrible hard nut to crack,
rising as it does almost sheer 1600 feet above the
rivers. Kuroki is not even certain whether it was
practicable on its northern flank — ^practicable, that is
to say, for an armed man to climb. Kosarei forms the
left of the Kussian position, and is the objective of the
hot-headed Twelfth Division. Even now, at the hour
I am writing, no one knows for certain what has
happened there, or in whose hands the mountain has
remained.
At 7.30 A.M. an orderly brought us cups of hot tea,
and Kuroki gave me a cigar for which a Stafi* officer
struck a match. I said it was a proud position for me
to be sitting during a great battle by the side of the
commander of a Japanese army smoking his cigars
which were lit by another great man. Kuroki laughed
quite light-heartedly, as if he was genuinely free from
all care. I said, ^* Your Excellency does not anticipate
very heavy losses, I hope ? " He replied that his only
anxiety was about the Twelfth Division, which was so
far distant he could get no news of its progress. He was
able to see from the shrapnel bursts that the line of
battle of the Guards was where he expected it to be,
and he was confident that the Second Division in front
of us would more than make good what they had
gained by their night attack with the bayonet.
Kuroki is truly a delightful man. Not a beribboned,
overbearing, jealous General, but gentle, unassuming,
sympathetic and charming. Occasionally little jokes
were made at which he and his Staff laughed heartily.
Nor was any small touch of politeness or etiquette
* Chinese, HungshaliDg.
40 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
omitted. In short, there was not the slightest sign of
strain or excitement. Only keen interest.
I am told that instructions were found on a Bussian
Staff officer who had been wounded and taken prisoner
about a week ago, warning the Divisional Generals
opposed to us that they must be specially careful
about their flanks. The glimpse Kuroki thus obtained
into the enemy's plans determined him to try a bold
frontal attack on the centre, as he considered it a fair
presumption that this part of the Bussian line would
be comparatively weakly held and ill prepared.
Meanwhile the musketry fire became violent in the
extreme all along the lower slopes of the big mountains
opposite; it clanged and echoed through the high
mountains as if thousands of riveters were working for
dear life on a monster battleship, and yet the Japanese
did not seem to gain a yard. Far away on the left
the fire of the sixty guns with the Imperial Guards was
perceptibly weakening, whilst the Bussian guns oppo-
site to them were now able to divert some of their fire
from the Japanese batteries to other parts of the battle-
field, where evidently the infantry advance was being
fiercely contested.
Kuroki is a great smoker, and consumed cigar after
cigar. Eventually he lay down on his back and used
the cigar^box as a pillow, putting his handkerchief
over it.
When messages arrived by the hand of anxious
adjutants or orderlies they were generally delivered
to the senior Staff officer present, who read them first
and then took them to Kuroki, but occasionally the
adjutant would step forward and read the contents of
his note-book in a clear loud voice so that all could
hear.
Thb Battle of the Twenty-sixth op August 41
At 7.50 A. M. we noticed that one particular Russian
battery entrenched on the south side of a small hillock
had been singled out for the ten-ible concentrated fire
of the whole of the Guards' artillery, who were simply
pouring shrapnel and high explosive shell upon it. Ball
after ball of cottony white smoke was piled over the
eight Russian field-pieces by the invisible agency
of the growling, snarling Japanese guns, whilst every now
and then a huge column of greenish black vapour would
rise up from the edge of the gun-pits, showing where a
high explosive shell had that moment alighted. All our
glasses were glued to this tumultuous scene, when sud-
denly,amidst murmurs of interest fromtheOeneralStaff,
the Russians were seen to be withdrawing their guns and
bringing them out again into an alternative set of gun -
pits on the northern side of the hillock, from whence
they soon re-opened fire, whilst the Guards' artillery
kept on pounding away at the empty entrenchments to
the south. The General Staff, instead of fuming as
Europeans or Americans would probably have done at
the success of the Russian artifice, were genuinely in-
terested and quite pleased. They exclaimed : **Ils
luttenthien!"*
At 8 A.M. an adjutant appeared with a despatch,
saluted, and read out a message from the Commander
of the Twelfth Division announcing that, at 6.30 A.M.,
he had carried the northern and most difficult part of
the Kosarei position on the extreme Russian left, but
that the enemy was still vigorously disputing his
attempts to improve his advantage. This was great
news, but not sufficiently definite or conclusive to make
the General Staff quite happy.
* I believe *' Ila ae batterU bien " is the more correct formula, but
I giye it as it was said. — I. H.
42 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
At 8.15 a breathless messenger arrived, saying that
the enemy in front of the Second Division were begin-
ning to fall back on Amping. The rattling and crack-
ling of the musketry was now continuous as the noise
of a blazing bonfire. I was tempted to ask leave to run
on and see the infantiy fight at closer quarters, but I
reflected that if I were to elect to witness the exploits
of companies I must forego the unique experience of
being solitary spectator of such a vast battle panorama
as now lay smoking and resounding at my feet.
At 8.20 a second despatch reached us from the
Twelfth Division, saying that Kigoshi, who is to the
Twelfth Division what Okasaki is to the Second, had,
with five battalions, scaled the lofty black ridge north
of Kosarei, and that the Russians were quite driven
off the northern half of the mountain at the time of
writing, namely, at 7.20 a.m. This news was readout
aloud, and for once the Japanese permitted their
assumed mask of insensibility to drop, and were as ex-
cited and frankly delighted as a lot of schoolboys. A
very senior officer even went the length of calling out
" Bravo ! " and a few moments later he whispered to
me, chuckling, *' Das war die Hauptsache ! "
As far as I could judge by the map and the lie of
the ground, the ridge which had been half taken was
the key to the left and centre of the enemy's position.
By its occupation, the Japanese had gained a point
d'appui for an immediate advance on Amping, which,
if successful, would render untenable the whole of the
country lying between the Tangho and the Lanho (Map
XXII.). Either, so it seemed to me, the Russians must
1 etake the Kosarei ridge, or else there was no secure foot-
hold for their left and centre until they fell back west
over the Tangho or north over the Taitsuho. The right
The Battle oi* the Twentv-sixth of August 43
of the Russians, which was engaged with the Imperial
Guards, was not so immediately threatened, as they
could always retire on to Liaoyang by the main Pekin
road, which ran clear of the town of Amping. Never-
theless, if the Russian left and centre were forced
back, the opponents of the Imperial Guards would
ultimately have to follow suit. I wrote out, therefore,
a cable to India, and got it censored on the spot, saying
that although the Russians were still making a good
fight, an important victory was practically assured.
The General Staff were just despatching an orderly
back to Tiensuitien, and they kindly allowed him to
take my cable.
Hardly had he disappeared from view, when bad
news began to come in from the front, and, not for the
first time, I was sorry I had been in such a hurry.
At 8.25 a messenger arrived saying that, although
one column of the enemy did appear to be falling back
on Amping, another heavy column of fresh troops had
appeared on the left of the Second Division, where a
counter-attack was momentarily expected. Lieutenant-
General Nishi, commanding the Second Division, did
not feel himself well situated to resist such a move-
ment, as he had now only one battalion in hand, and
he earnestly begged therefore for reinforcements from
the 29 th Regiment of Kobi, which was held by
Kuroki at Tiensuitien as an army reserve. Kuroki
was perfectly calm. He refused the reinforcements,
and I gathered that he would be enchanted if the
counter-attack was delivered. For the countiy was
so bad and broken that the only result of a successful
Russian advance against the Second Division would be
to involve their own centre inextricably amidst the
mountains. They could not bring up artillery to
44 A Staff Officer^s Scrap-BooK:
improve their advantage, and meanwhile the Twelfth
Division might be able to get to Amping in their rear
and cut them off entirely from their line of retreat.
One minute after Nishi's alarming message, that is
to say, at 8.26, an orderly arrived firom the Imperial
Guards saying that the situation on that wing was
becoming very serious. The Guards, he reported, could
make no sort of progress either by asserting their artil-
lery superiority or by advancing their infantry. On
the contrary, the enemy to their front was rapidly in-
creasing and was threatening to envelop and force back
their left brigade, under Asada, which had, it seems,
crossed the upper waters of the Tangho and got some-
what isolated. Now faces grew grave, and after a very
brief deliberation, orders were given to the whole of the
Army Eeserve to march from Tiensuitien to the assist-
ance of the Guards. The Army Reserve consisted, as I
have just written, only of the 29th Regiment of Kobi,*
which had, an hour previously, come in to Tiensuitien
from Antung, having marched the whole distance in
forty-eight hours,t up to date the record march made
by any unit of the First Army. .
So long as it remained at Tiensuitien, this reserve
was in rear of the centre of the Japanese line of battle,
but once it was sent to the extreme left it would cease
to be available for the reinforcement of centre or
right.
Kuroki knew very little about the course of events
* In the Japanefle Army organisation Kobi are the 2nd Reserve,
i.e.f men who have done their three years colour service and three
years in the Yobi, or Ist Beserve. They remain ten years in the
Kobi.
t I find this clearly entered in my diary, but am somewhat
staggered to find from the map that the distance in question is
85 nules I— I. H.
i'-
Si
iJ
The Battle of the Twenty-sixth of August 45
on his right, except that the Twelfth Division had
taken half of the position they had been told off to
attack and that they were still fighting ; he had just
heard that a serious attack was about to be launched
against his centre, which was only three or four miles
to his own immediate front, and he could plainly hear
and see for himself that the Russians in this part of the
field were numerous and full of fight. In giving such
an order then, I think that he had come to what one
of the Staff described as une decision un pen avda-
dense. In fact it was an action demanding an un-
common amount of nerve to part with the 29th
Regiment at a moment so critical
Few Generals I have ever met would have had the
hardihood to deprive themselves with this reasoned,
unfaltering completeness of every single man of their
reserves at a moment when the ever-increasing fiiry of
the masketry , and the pale, breathless messengers from
the firing-line all foreboded the approach of a crisis in
that part of the fight which was raging under their
very eyes.
There is no bottling-up-the-Old-Guard tendency
about Kuroki. His method of handling his reserves is
the very acme of boldness. Never will Kuroki merit
the reproach which Napoleon levelled at Joseph after
Talavera, when he told him the plain truth and said
that a General who retreats before he has used all his
reserves deserves to be shot forthwith. But Napoleon
himself did not always act up to his own principles,
and although he was the acknowledged master in the
art of using his reserves, yet it has been plausibly con-
tended that at Borodino he hesitated and was lost.
If, however, I admire the commander of our dashing
Frajb ^tWij for accepting a crushing responsibility, not
46 A Staff Officbr's Scrap-Book
only without tremor but with a smile, I admii'e the
General Staff just as much, though in quite another
way, for the eager and positive loyalty with which they
labour untiringly to impress all outsiders with the idea
that Kuroki thinks of everything for himself whilst his
assistants are merely the blind and passive instruments
of his authority. What a contrast to some of us,
who, without wielding one tithe of the power of the
Japanese General Staff, are quite ready to encourage
the inferences of our admiring friends that the General
was the puppet whilst we were the true originators of
any success which for once in a way the poor man may
chance to have achieved . If ever I get back safe to
England and people ask me, " What are the lessons of
the Manchurian War ? " I ought, if I have the pluck
of a mouse, most certainly to reply, " To change our
characters, my dear friend, so that you and I may
become less jealous and egotistical, and more loyal and
disinterested towards our own brother officers. This
is the greatest lesson of the war."
By 8.30 A.M. the Second Division were holding on
like grim death to what they had won, and that was
all they could do. The right of their attack had
effected a lodgment on the summit of the high moun-
tain overlooking the Tangho, but the crest of the same
mountain in front of their left and left centre was still
in the hands of the enemy. Here the Russian fire had
become so heavy as almost to drown the single reports
of the Japanese rifles.
Later on in the day I heard that at this juncture
the situation was specially critical, inasmuch as the
Russian right was not only containing the Japanese
left, but also threatening to roll up their centre and
right.
Thb Battle ojf the Twenty-sixth of August 47
A happier complexion was, however, soon put upon
the combat by a mountain battery which, since 8 A.M.,
had been trying to help the right centre of the Japanese
infantry from the crest of the great ridge, by firing
occasionally in the direction of Amping (see Sketch
XVII.). So far they had not done much good, as the
fire of the Bussian field-guns had been too much for
them. Now, however, finding themselves threatened
on their left flank, they withdrew a few yards so as to
put the crest line between them and the opposing bat-
teries near Tsuigo and opened fire in every direction ;
just, as a lieutenant-colonel put it to me, like a bundle
of squibs. Then, not content with a mere defensive
action, two of these pop-guns, for they are little more,
proceeded to give a very striking example of the
mighty power of artillery when quite unopposed by its
own arm.
It was ten o'clock when the two guns were withdrawn
from the main ridge, and were brought down into the
bottom of the valley, where they advanced through
some millet fields to within about one mile of the
obstinate Russians (at " T "). There was no difficulty
in following the subsequent action. From Gokarei
both sides were clearly revealed by a pair of good
glasses. The Russian trenches ran a short distance
below the summit of the mountain, having evidently
been placed there instead of on the crest line, so as to
cover ground which would otherwise have been dead.
From one point of view such an arrangement was
good ; indeed, it was necessary. From another it
was weak, inasmuch as the trenches leaned forward
towards the valley as if inviting a howitzer to lob a
shell into them. There may seem to be some incon-
sistency in saying at the same time that an arrange-
48 A Staff Officbr's Scrap-Book
ment was necessary and that it was faulty. The
explanation is of course that the military art is not so
easy as a tyro might imagine it to be, and that perfect,
flawless defence by field-works of a natural position
is a sheer impossibility.
The Japanese had been gradually climbing the slopes
and occupying knoll after knoll, but had not been able,
during the past hour, to make any further progress.
The heaviest fire came from the penultimate peak or
knoll of mountain " T " {see sketch), under shelter of
which about two Japanese battalions were engaging the
Bussian trenches at a range of 500 yards.* Covered
by this infantry fire, groups of from ten to twenty
men had been working up independently to closer
quarters, and had gradually collected into three large,
irregular-shaped, mud-coloured mobs, crouching in
depressions which gave them cover from fire, within
200 yards fi'om the trenches immediately west of " T,"
and fi-om the actual summit which was ringed round
with a very conspicuous excavation.
When the little groups rushed and climbed and crept
upwards, they made no attempt to use their rifles, but
trusted* entirely to the covering fire of the battalions
behind the spur. I was too far to notice this myself,
but I heard it in the afternoon from an officer who had
been with them. I was able, however, to see that the
three big mobs were glued fast to their cover, and that
the fire from the trenches waa exceedingly heavy.
I suppose the Russians were too much absorbed in
their desperate musketry conflict to notice the two
little guns creeping up through the miUet ; otherwise,
* I heard later on in the day that the Japanese loeses here, and
in the assaultiDg colamnB, had amounted to some 40 officers and
600 men.
The Baotlb of the Twenty-sixth of August 49
at a range of 1700 yards, they should have been able
to plaster them with rifle bullets. Strange it is to
think what agencies the Almighty employs to change
the face of history or to humble a nation's pride. Some-
times it may be one single valiant private soldier who, by
a mere cry or gesture, inspires his comrades with hope
in the hour of their blackest despair; sometimes a
shower of rain may cast one empire into mourning for
the loss of its bravest and its best and raise another to
a pinnacle of power and pride ; this time, so it seemed
to me, the instruments chosen were just a couple of
mountain guns. It was 10.20 when the guns opened
on the Russian position, catching it obliquelv and
dropping one high explosive sheU after another bang
into the trenches. The enemy did not seem to be able
to stand this at all. They began to give way all along
the line, and quitted their cover a dozen at a time to
gain the shelter of the sky-line. Sooner or later, under
such insistence from the artillery, they were almost
bound to go; so at least it seemed to me. The
Japanese gunners worked very methodically, beginning
with the ringed work round the top of the peak, and
carrying on along the trenches from south to north,
dropping their high explosive shells, in the proportion
of about one to every three fired, actually into the
works. It was a beautiful piece of gunnery practice to
witness, but I could not help thinking of the bitterness
of heart of the Russian ofiicers as their men were thus
<
forced to give way.
So soon as the Russians had all vacated their trenches
and were crouching behind the crest line, then the
ground in front of the Japanese storming parties became
once more dead.
Now was the time, and sure enough, at 11 a.m., the
11 D
50 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
mud-coloured blot on which my glasses were fixed,
suddenly sent out the steely sparkle of hundreds of
bayonets and then changed its irregular rounded form
into that of a long thin winding snake-like column
pressing up the spur with a sun-flag waving at its head.
The mountain guns now ceased fire, and the Russians
stood up on the sky-line to empty their magazines at
the approaching Japanese. At this moment, the little
banner detached itself, a spot of dancing life-like colour,
iand raced forward alone a clear distance of eighty or
one hundred yards in advance of the forlorn hope. A
splendid feat of arms 1 Every moment we looked to see
it fall ; but no, the Russians disappeared, the firing
ceased, the flag waved on the very sharp spiked summit
of the peak. Then the firing recommenced, but now
only with the single reports denoting that the rifles
were pointing away from the listener.
My glasses had been fixed on the right storming
party, but apparently the two crowds of men I had
noticed to the left had assaulted simultaneously, for
looking along the crest line I could now see the Japanese
everywhere in possession, and at least half a dozen of
their flags planted at intei'vals on the highest peaks of
the range. We must have our Jacks too for our next
bit of fighting. The whole army becomes inspirited by
seeing the advance of the beloved emblem of their
country, and although on this occasion the artillery
did not file up to the very last moment, it seemed to
me that, with such a conspicuous mark to denote the
head of the column, they ought to have been able to
do so without having much fear of damaging their own
men.
The Second Division had now occupied the whole of
the Russian position, and the enemy's centre was
■ VAcu^Te*
HI
E=as^
ngchangling) TAKEJ
The Battle of the Twenty-sixth of August 51
broken. Bravo the brave Second 1 These men of the
north are the biggest, bravest and least clpver men in
Japan. They are the Boeotians of the Far East. They
stand a head and shoulders above the ordinary Japanese
to be met with on a railway platform in Tokio or in the
streets of London, and in build and muscular develop-
ment would be very hard to beat anywhere. Many
Japanese would strongly question their pre-eminence
in bravery, but I use the word here in the English and
not the Celtic sense. Other Divisions may do more
dashing feats, but the Second are solid, stolid and un-
imaginative, and although it would never occur to
them, as it might, for instance, to the men of the Twelfth
Division, to court danger for its own sake, yet they can
meet it with supreme indifference whenever it crosses
their path.
It was about this time that a &iend in high places
said to me : *'The news which has just come in from
the Twelfth Division is good, but not quite so good as
we had hoped. The right brigade, under Kigoshi,
which stormed the northern part of Kosarei, is still
fighting desperately, and is unable to carry the
southern part of the moimtain. The left brigade of
the Twelfth Division has advanced as far as Chipanling
and Fapanling, driving the enemy before it. The
Second Division has now succeeded in occupying the
groimd held by the enemy's centre. Marshal Kuroki
has still some hope, therefore, that the Twelfth and
Second Divisions may yet make good before nightfall
the right, bank of the Tangho. The Guards are at
present fighting across the upper waters of that river,
and if they can only manage to give the enemy a
handsome beating they may perhaps be able to reach
Kohoshi before dark." (Map XXII.)
52 A Staff Officeb^s Scrap-Book
A few minutes later, a German -speaking officer
came in to report that detachments of the Fourth
Army were now visible from the extreme left of the
First Army. After he had delivered his message, I
engaged him in conversation, and learnt that the left
brigade of the Guards, having made a wide turning
movement, was now marching north-east and en-
deavouring to outflank the Eussian right, which was a
mile or two south of Kohoshi. I told him the marshal
commanding hoped that the Guards might occupy
Kohoshi before dark, when he replied that he expected
the Guards were by now too busy defending them-
selves to give much thought to Kohoshi. By 11 a. M.
the musketry to our front had quite died away, and
only the bursting of Bussian shells over the summit of
the ridge, which the Second Division had just captured,
and the artillery duel between the Guards and the
Bussian right, eleven miles away to the west, showed
that fighting was still going on.
At 1 P.M. an adjutant of Kuroki's came back from
the front, and reported that in one hour's time a road
would be cut through the mountains enabling the
field artillery to get up into position on the big ridge
to our front and fire on the retreating Bussians.
The General Staff asked many eager questions of the
adjutant, and made no secret of their opinions that
the Bussian retirement was being admirably well
done. It seems that the whole of their line fell back
simultaneously, and in so doing concentrated on
Amping. Had each Bussian unit acted independently
the Japanese detachments already in' close contact
with them might have pressed on independently in
pursuit. As it was, however, the Bussians not only
maintained their cohesion, but drew closer together
The Battle of the Twenty-sixth of August 53
with every step they took towards Amping, during
which movement they were covered by a heavy fire
from twenty -four guns posted north of Chuchaputsu.
The Japanese had no guns wherewith to reply, except
the mountain battery whose exploits have just been
narrated ; and, moreover, they were still in some dis-
order after having delivered the assault. I do not
myself think that a pursuit would have had any result
beyond heavy losses to the pursuers until it could be
supported by artillery. The troops had been marching,
climbing, fighting, charging for over twelve hours.
They had only four small mountain guns in position.
The enemy had given way, it is true, but had not
been put to headlong flight or apparently been
demoralised to any great extent. They were con-
centrating on Amping under the protection of a
powerful artillery. Kuroki did well to leave them
alone.
From the moment it was decided that the Second
Division was not to pursue, the battlefield became
less interesting, for it was not possible to keep up a
great deal of excitement about exchanges of shell
between the Guards and the Russian right wing at a
distance of over ten miles from our point of observation.
A fine, chilly rain began to fall, and I got under the
lee of a small but thick hazel bush, and pulled out of
my haversack a weekly TimeSy dated July 1st, which has
been a record delivery up to date. It contained a long
letter from Tolstoi. I see he considers that aggressive
nations can be appeased, or shamed, or tired out, by
constantly inviting them to smite the other cheek. I
doubt if the great writer fully appreciates the insatiate
hunger for cheek-smiting which gnaws at the vitals of
certain sections of mankind, If tb^ Russian people
54 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
possessed the docile, spiritless characters with which
he would fain see them endowed, their Empire would
soon be parcelled out and divided between more
martial races.
At 5.30 P.M., one of the Staff came and sat under
my bush, observing that an old campaigner always
secures the best shelter from the storm. He told me
that the chief anxiety was now about the First
Brigade of the Guards under Asada, who, in endeavour-
ing to turn the extreme right of the Bussians, had got
too far away from the Second Brigade under Watanabe.
Asada seemed to be in some peril as there was a
formidable concentration against him, and when
the latest news came to hand he was reported
as being only just able to hold his own, pending the
arrival of the Army Reserves from Tiensuitien at
8.30 A.M.
On the other flank of the Japanese line of battle,
Kigoshi's Twenty-third Brigade has done a magnificent
feat of arms.
The ridge of Kosarei, which somewhat resembles a
glorified Caesar's camp at Ladysmith, rises 1600 feet
above the Taitsuho — the last 150 yards of the ascent
being so steep as to render any idea of an ordinary
assault by daylight quite hopeless. The Japanese ad-
vanced up the northern ridge of this moimtain, painfully
climbing — sometimes on hands and knees. The Bussian
picquets, seeing that there was no firing, mistook them
for a mere reconnaissance, and did not immediately give
a general alarm or hurry up reserves to the threatened
spot to man the trenches. On the contrary, their
outposts kept steadily falling back, occasionally halting
to fire or roU down rocks, and imagining apparently
that the Japanese would be frightened away, or at least
The Battle of the Twenty-sixth of August 55
that they would pause to reply. But Kigoshi con-
tinued his advance inexorably, silently ; until, without
halt or haste, he reached the northern extremity of
the summit, and, wheeling southwards, marched down
the narrow back of the mountain, still — ^as the saying
is — as death. No shout was raised. Not a shot was
fired. But those of the enemy who lingered were
overwhelmed by the steel-crested wave. Picquets,
supports and reserves were swept away one after the
other before the dread onslaught, like straws before a
torrent. No one on the Bussian side seems clearly
to have realised the terrible, imminent danger, and
Kigoshi, pressing on, never gave his opponents one
moment to think, or to rally, or to take up any fixed
line of defence.
At last, in the grey of dawn, the Japanese reached
a spot where the back of the mountain narrows into the
ledge with almost precipitous sides which forms the
actual pass of Kosarei. There was a battery of Bussian
guns on the other side of the ledge within a few yards.
The guns could not be switched on to the Japanese, as
they could only, owing to their position and the for-
mation of the ground, fire eastwards in the direction
from which an attack had been anticipated, and
not northwards in the direction from which the
sudden Kigoshi had now mysteriously appeared. But
the ledge was so narrow that a few Bussian riflemen,
lying amongst stones on the southern side, were able
to check a further advance, and once the defenders
got breathing-space they seemed to be immediately
able to organise a stout resistance.
Since 7.20 a.m., in fact, when the advance of Kigoshi
had been arrested for the first time, not one yard had
he gained ! The Bussians were at bay behind rocks
56 A Staff Officer's Scbap-Book
on the south side of the rocky ledge, and the Japanese
could not get beyond the cover of some rocks at fifty
yards distance from the same ledge on its northern
side. Kigoshi, from his last message, seemed to have
little hope of forcing a passage until after dark. The
battery was under fire from both sides. Neither could
the Russians remove the guns or the Japanese definitely
capture them.
I think General Kuroki is fairly easy in his mind.
The capture of the whole of the Kosarei mountain has
not been achieved, it is true, but the possession of
even its northern half enables Kigoshi to threaten the
communications of every Bussian east of the Tangho.
{See Map XXII.)
Sasaki's Twelfth Brigade of the Twelfth Division has
captured Papanling and Chipanling without much
trouble or loss.
The Second Division has stormed, and now holds,
the formidable line of mountain called Kungshan,
immediately overlooking Amping, which is only four or
five miles distant.
The Guards' Second Brigade, under Watanabe, have
been brought to a standstill opposite Daidenshi on the
main Pekin road, but should by now have been joined
by the Army Beserve, consisting of the 29th Kobi from
Tiensuitien.
The Guards' First Brigade, under Asada, on the ex-
treme left of the line, is causing much greater anxiety.
The Bussian extreme right is entrenched on the hills
forming the western slopes of the valley, through which
flow the upper waters of the Tangho. Ajsada's Brigade
had marched north-west from Tashinpou with the in-
tention of outflanking and turning these entrench-
ments. In executing the movement they have lost
The Battle of the Twenty-sixth of August 57
touch with the Second Brigade under Watanabe, and
whilst thus isolated their attack has not only been
repulsed, but they are in danger of being surrounded
by reinforcements which the Russians are rushing down
the main road from Liaoyang.
To sum up : The division and a half forming our
centre and right centre have been definitely successful
and have occupied the enemy's positions. Our extreme
right is still fighting, but has already carried a point
whichdominates the battlefield to the eastof theTangho.
Our left centre can make no impression on the enemy,
and the left finds itself in a perilous situation.
Without in any way wishing to depreciate the pains-
taking preparations of the Japanese leaders, or the
unfailing valour of their men, it may be admitted, I
think, that they have owed something to Dame
Fortune on this eventful day. Had Kigoshi failed to
carry the northern half of the Kosarei ridge, I feel,
having seen the ground and considering the bad
position of affairs in front of the Guards on our left,
that it might not have been possible for the centre and
right centre to maintain their suocess. They had,
according to their intention, driven a wedge into the
enemy's centre. But the wedge could make no further
headway beyond the positions actually carried, and
if it had been threatened on both flanks by the Russians
holding on to right and left of them, they would very
possibly have bad to fall back. But the seizure by
Kigoshi of the northern half of the Kosarei ridge
relieved them of all fear on their most exposed flank,
and at the same time threatened the Kussian com-
munications and line of retreat. Therefore every one
here feels confident and happy, even although they
may be a little anxious about the Guards,
58 A Staff Officbb's Scrap-Book
All these sanguine anticipations are based on
Kigoshi's brilliant stroke on the right far more than on
the victory of the Second Division which I have just
seen and described. How, then, did Kigoshi come to
take those almost inaccessible crags upon which his
Bising Sun flag now so proudly floats ? If the first
Bussian detachments encountered half-way down the
slopes of Kosarei had made a resistance sufficiently
stubborn to enable the defenders of the steeper upper
section of the ridge to man their prepared lines of
sangars, then (as they showed later under less favour-
able conditions and with half the ridge already torn
from their grasp) they were capable of offering a resist-
ance to the Japanese which they might have found it
impossible to overcome. But it was fated to be other-
wise, and as at the mountain of Makurayama on the 31st
of July, so to-day — or rather, I may now say, yesterday,
for it is past midnight-the carelessness and bad lead-
ing of an outpost have been, humanly speaking, the
cause of the defeat of a great army.
It was not until 6 p.m. that I descended the steep
western slopes of the Gokarei mountain, together with
Kuroki and the Headquarters Staff*. The rain fell in
torrents as we floundered through the mud as far as
this hovel. Water comes trickling through the roof,
but I am indeed thrice fortunate to be one of the very,
very few out of the tens of thousands of Russians and
Japanese in our neighbourhood who has a roof over
bim at all. Alas for the poor wounded. Bain is a
cruel torment to badly wounded men. Do I not still
recall with a shudder the anguish of the biting cold and
of the heavy raindrops falling, falling all night long,
on my sun-blistered face as I lay outstretched on the
veldt beneath Majuba ?
CHAPTER XXI
THE RUSSIANS RETIRE
KoKAHOSHi, August 27th, 1904,— Slept soundly till
8 A.M. It was then wet and misty. Guns were firing
at intervals near us, but they must have made random
shooting, as it is not possible to see further than 100
yards. In the direction of the Imperial Guards the
artillery fire is heavy and continuous, so I suppose
there is not so much fog to westwards. All the soldiers
here look pale and tired. Their knapsacks had been
left behind when they started on the night of the 25th
to make their night attack, and their thin khaki is
soaked and clinging clammily to their limbs. Never-
theless, they manage to be cheerful whilst making
their morning toilette by the banks of the muddy
streamlet. Many of them are wounded, but none the
less happy on that account unless they suspect that
the doctor may take too serious a view of such a trifle
as a bayonet wound in the eye or a bullet through the
foot, and put them temporarily on the shelf. For thfe
tenth time at least I must write down that the Japanese
infantry consist of superb material. Guileless as
children, brave as lions, their constant ruling thought
is to do their duty by their ancestors and by the
Emperor.
The fog seemed to become more dense as the morning
wore on, and the Second Division, in the midst of
60 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
whom I had slept, did not dare advance blindfold into
the unknown. I watched many wounded being brought
down the valley, and amongst them several Bussians.
They had all been lying in the rain and were in a
pitiful state, caked with mud and blood. I also saw
rows of dead Japanese being burnt. A colonel who
was amongst them was honoured by having his bonfire
a little apart from the others.
At midday I went in to have some food, and learnt
that the Kussian left had cleared during the night,
leaving Kigoshi's Brigade in possession of the preci-
pitous ledge of rock at Kosarei, and of the guns, as
well as the whole of the southern half of the mountain.
The Twelfth Division is now supposed to be advancing
against Ampiug from the north, but the Guards are
still in difficulties, and are unable to make good their
objective.
After a bento of good hot rice I rode with Sergeant
Watanabe to the headquarters, and, obtaining per-
miaaion to see what I could, made my way, after a
stiff climb, to some of the trenches captured yesterday.
Here I found a battalion of Japanese infantry peering
out into the opaque mist-curtain which was so perversely
preventing them fi'om carrying on the fight. They
seemed already to have recovered from their fatigue,
and looked as bright and keen as if they were about
to start on a campaign instead of being perhaps not
more than half-way through a very big battle.
Once or twice the fog lifted for a tantalising second
or two, enabling us to catch a glimpse of the winding
Tangho flowing far away beneath us. Then, at four
o'clock, suddenly, there came a great puff of wind
from the west, tearing into shreds the mist- veil, and
transforming it from a blinding obstruction ipto many
The Russians Betire 61
trailing streamers of radiant, silvery vapour. As a
fair landscape may instantaneously be flashed by a
magic-lantern on to a sheet which until then was
vacant, ugly and meaningless, so now the blank wall
of mist in one second made way for many chequered
patterns of dark green crops, golden river sand and
trembling blue water, all framed about by innumerable
tall, spiked, pyramidal mountains of jade (see Sketch
XVIIL).
No sooner did the fairy-like panorama of mountain,
river, plain and flying mist start to our eyes than it
drew from the Japanese a thundering salute fired by
the eighteen field guns on the ridge to my right, for
there in the middle of the scene were the principal
actors, a retreating army apparently caught in a trap.
We could clearly see the Russian camps on the flat
sands near Amping ; camps which were being hurriedly
struck before our eyes, and we could distinguish also
long columns creeping slowly up and down the right
bank of the river like leaden Kriegspiel blocks being
pushed by a hesitating player over the map. Even
more exciting and more significant was the sight of a
narrow, dark line spanning the Tangho, towards which
these columns were evidently making their way.
Under my glasses this object revealed itself as a trestle
bridge crowded with troops, whilst a brigade at least
seemed to be waiting at the eastern end for its turn to
cross and put the broad river betwixt them and the
Japanese. Eight or nine miles to the north of us a
big fight was in full flame over all the valleys and
ridges leading down from the Kosarei ridge to Amping,
and it was dear that Kigoshi's Brigade of the
Twelfth Division was pressing down at best speed in
hopes of cutting off the rear-guard of the Russians.
62 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
Tho whole of the Second Division had plunged
down the mountain side the moment the fog lifted.
But their field guns were fully five and a half miles
distant from the bridge, and were practically out of
range of even the nearest Bussian infantry, so the
Japanese infantry could not look to much assistance
from them, seeing that it was not possible to advance
them any further without making a road. The
mountain battery which did such good work yesterday
was, however, available, and followed the advancing
Second Division as fast as it could.
Soon after 5 p.m. the firing seemed to slacken in
the valleys north of Amping, and large columns of
Bussians debouched from them, making for the bridge
and for fords in the river.
At 5.30 it looked as if there was a fair prospect
that the artillery of the Twelfth Division, and perhaps
some of the infantry of the Second Division as well
as their mountain battery, might get within range of
the bridge before the bulk of the Bussians could get
across it. Had they succeeded, a second Beresina
tragedy would have overwhelmed nigh on a Division
of Bussians. There was still an hour and a half of
daylight and almost anything was possible. But as
these thoughts crossed my mind, two batteries of the
enemy's artillery unlimbered on the open sand, close
by the main camp which was now nearly struck, and
almost inmiediately I saw eight white pufe of smoke
over a point of the northern ridge down which the
Twelfth Division was pressing ; then a couple of groups
of four just to steady the Second Division, and
steadied they were ! The Japanese either halted, or
advanced double-slow time, whilst several great masses
of Bussians emerged from behind a low blufif by Amping
I II
The Bussians Betirb 63
and forded the river. The enemy had now practically
got clear away.
At 6.45 P.M. a single horseman appeared galloping
over the sand on the right bank of the river for all he
was worth. I cannot imagine what he can have been
doing. The Japanese must be rather uncomfortably
near him. However, he escapes. This is the last of
the Bussians on the right bank of the Tangho. The
great Marquis Oyama has been duly obeyed.
Meanwhile several Bussian batteries were firing
heavily and covering the retirement. Yet another ex-
emplification of the power of artillery when unopposed
by artillery, culled this time from a successful with-
(Lrawal by the enemy. When I got back here, tired and
wet, but extraordinarily happy, I found in much
anxiety about my long absence. Evidently he thinks
I should not have gone off independently, even with
Headquarters' permission. However, nothing can disturb
my equanimity on such a day as this. He tells me that
the Guards have also been able to advance to-day, and
have occupied Sanjago and Kohoshi.* It seems that
the almost victorious Bussians who were surrounding
Asada and repulsing Watanabe were forced to retire on
account of the success of the Second and Twelfth
Divisions. Nevertheless, Kuroki is not quite happy
about his left, and he therefore marches early to-
morrow for Boshisan, whence he will be able to keep
in personal touch with the Imperial Guards. I am to
go with hun.
To bed, therefore, although it is with reluctance
that I prepare to loose my grip of the exciting con-
sciousness that I have to-day seen tbe most stupendous
spectacle that it is possible for mortal brain to conceive.
* Sanchiakou and E^aofengtsu {see Map XXII.).
^mc<«
64 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
Asia advancing ; Europe falling back ; the wall of mist
and the writing thereon.
KosHiSAN,* Augv^t 28«A, 1904. — Started at 7 a.m,
and marched with Kuroki and all the Headquarters
Staff, heading westwards towards Eoshisan. It was a
lovely day, and as we rode through a very mountainous
picturesque country I saw two eagles quartering the
ground in search of prey* During halts on the march
to rest the horses I wrote down the fragments of
conversation which follow :
^^ The enemy had some remarkably good chances of
attacking on either flank, but lost them all through
want of initiative. On our left he did manifest some
energy, and thereby made us feel exceedingly uncom-
fortable. Marshal Kuroki had foreseen this danger
and took it upon himself to express to the Marquis
Oyama a strong opinion that the army of Manchuria
should detach some special body of troops to watcli
our left flank during the movement we were ordered to
undertake. The Generalissimo did not, however,
accept this opinion. It was probably necessary to
refuse the request, but it does seem a pity that our left
flank could not have been shielded, if not directly then
indirectly ; if not tactically then at least strategically.
Suppose the attack of the Second and Fourth Armies
had hung fire from any unforeseen cause, then several
Divisions of Russians could have been moved up the
main road against our lefl I However, all is well that
ends well, and certainly the enemy missed his greatest
opportunity by neglecting to deliver a stroke against
our exposed right and right rear from the direction of
PenchUio {see Map XXIIL ). Marshal Kuroki had never
felt happy in his mind about this detachment of
* LangtfittBhan.
Thb Bussians Betibe 65
Bussians, which consisted of at least one regiment of
infantry, one battery of field artillery, and several
thousand cavalry, and he disliked the idea of leaving it
behind him at Penchiho in a position so threatening to
OTir advance. He had therefore worked out a com-
plete scheme for breaking up the Bussian detachments
both at Chaotao and Penchiho, but at the very last
moment, and with the utmost misgiving and regret,
he was forced to abandon the idea and turn all his
attention to the task of co-operating with the Fourth
and Second Armies. However, we might have spared
ourselves sleepless nights, for the formidable Penchiho
contingent has retired quite inoffensively and quietly
with the remainder of the troops towards Liaoyang.
" During the night of the 26th, the enemy in front
of the Second and Fourth Armies began to fall back
from Anshantien. We only got the news at 6.23 p.m.
on the 27th — ^yesterday. This movement was entirely
unexpected, and had never seriously entered into our
calculations. We, in common with the rest of the
world, I imagine, recognised Anshantien to be quite
the best defensive position which could be found
between Kaiping and Liaoyang. It is also a matter
of common knowledge that the enemy had expended
an immense amount of energy, time and money in
adding to the natural strength of the place by field-
works and defences of every description. We would
not of ourselves venture to ascribe so important a with-
drawal of the enemy to the merits of the First Army,
but Marshal Marquis Oyama, in his telegram announc-
ing the retirement, specifically says that it seems to
be due to the highly honourable battle fought by us
on the 25th and on the 26th, and that he therefore has
pleasure in giving us his congratulations. So great a
n X
^■^■^^HiP"^^'^^ ■■■ ' "^ — '^mmm^^mff^^m
66 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
compliment must spur us to still greater exertions,
and accordingly, Marshal Kuroki issued orders to our
army last night that they must form up to-day, at all
costs and regardless of the enemy's position, with their
right resting on the Taitsuho by Shobioshi and their
line running thence through Daisekimonrei down to
Shosansi on the left."
About midday we arrived at our destination, Roshi-
san, quite an important village — ^almoet a town. I
was told off to my quarters in a &rmhouse half a mile
away from headquarters, which is inconvenient. There
was heavy fighting going on four or five mUes to the
north, but I could not get permission to go out to it.
The firing, I was told, was due merely to the retiring
Russians fighting a rear-guard action, the details of
which did not concern the Headquarters Staff In vain
I represented that a rear-guard action was just the very
description of fighting I most especially wished to
study. I was informed that my horse was very
exhausted, and so, although he had just tried to buck
me off, I did not argue the point any further, as I saw
that, for some reason or another, it was considered
undesirable that I should go.
I was glad afterwards I had been able to submit
with a good grace, for at 6.30 p.m. a kind young officer,
who evidently had felt for my disappointment, came in
to see me and to console me by giving me the latest
new&
The first and most important item was that at mid-
day, just as Marshal Kuroki arrived at his quarters, he
was handed a telegram from Oyama's Chief of the
Staff informing him that the Second Army hoped to
reach that day a line extending from the Shaho* to the
* Not to be confounded with the Shaho noith of Liaoyang.
Thb Russians Retire 67
river Liao, and the Fourth Army a line extending from
Tentauyuan to Tsaofantun. The First Army must,
therefore, conform by pressing on without a moment's
delay to the south bank of the Taitsuho, and there
prepare to make an immediate crossing.
These instructions constituted what may fairly be
described as a tall order. The First Army was at the
moment facing north-v^est. and was engaged in fight-
ing with the enemy, over a front of some twenty miles,
amidst the most broken, difficult terrain it is possible
to imagine. It was no light task to break off the
struggle or to give a fresh direction to a front so
extended. Nevertheless, my young friend made light
of all difficulties, and laughed at the long face I had
pulled in sympathy with the dilemma in which I felt
his chief must now be placed.
Modifications to the orders issued last night have
akeady been issued, and are to the following effect :
The Guards are to take up a line from Mokabo to
a hill a short distance north-west of Yayuchi ; the
Second Division are to occupy Sekishoshi with their
main force and push out their left until it gets into
touch with the Guards : the Twelfth Division are to
make good Shobyoshi and are to be prepared to cross
the river between Kuyentai and Sakan. My friend
added, and I wrote down : "These are our intentions,
but it depends, of course, upon the enemy whether
they can be carried into effect. I may tell you that at
headquarters they are not very sanguine that the
Guards can now possibly succeed in carrying out their
part of the programme, seeing that only an hour and
a half ago the enemy was fighting hard and did not
seem inclined to yield even one yard of ground^ whereas
our men must drive them back at least six miles if
68 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
they are to bivouac according to their orders. Our
chief is, however, more hopeful that the Second and
Twelfth Divisions will be able to do their share of the
business."
It was now half-past seven, and I begged my visitor
to stay and have something for the good of my new
house. He smiled and said he had already been too
long away from headquarters, and that he must get
back to where he could combine the operations of
working and eating.
I asked him if he thought he could get me permis-
sion to ride out and see the Guards fighting through
to their position to-morrow, but he acknowledged that,
in anticipation of some such request being put forward
by me, he had been instructed to advise me to content
myself with going over the positions held by the
Guards and Eussians on the battle of the 26th. ^^ It
will be fiar more valuable for you," he urged, " than to
be scrambling about under shell fire seeing a few
groups of infantry executing manoeuvres of which you
will not understand the full meaning. You have
Colonel Hiune with the Guards Divisional Head-
quarters, and he will keep you informed as to the
details of the fight. If you go out with an officer of
the General Staff to-morrow morning and inspect the
positions, some one from headquarters will be sure to
see you on your return and tell you how the battle
progresses in other parts of the field."
Fortune has been my guide and staff during this
pilgrimage through Manchuria, and I can but follow her
blindly and hope for the best. I did not therefore
even struggle against my fate and tried to swallow
my disappointment as if I were enjoying its bitter
flavom*.
The Bussians Bbtibe 69
BosHiSAN, August 29ih, 1904. — A message has
come over to say that, if I will defer my start for the
battlefield until 11 a. M. and call at headquarters on
my way out, I will be posted up in all the latest news.
is in low spirits to-day. He says, " Cest le
moment fort d^icat" I think our moment dAicat
was the 26th instant, and that prospects improve with
every mile of our advance, for the three armies are
now almost in touch, and support should surely be
forthcoming from Oyama if we find ourselves in a
place too tight for us.
10 P.M. — ^I saw one of the Staff on my way out to
the battlefield, and took down the following, verbatim :
" Before you visit the scene of the struggle of the
26th between the Guards and the Bussians, I am
authorised to give you some further instruction. All
goes well. Notwithstanding the sudden change of
plan which was sprung upon us by Manchurian Army
Headquarters at midday yesterday,* the Twelfth
DivisL was last night able to make good its new
point without much fighting. The Headquarters and
main force of the Second Division were not so fortunate
They were delayed by fog to begin with, and then
they found very few practicable fords over the Tangho.
Moreover, the Russians offered a stubborn resistance^
not only to the crossing, but also to the fiirther
advance up the hills on the western bank of the river.
Consequently, Gleneral Nishi's main body has only
succeeded in making good a hill a very short distance
to the north of Sandiasi (Sketch XIX.).
'^ The left brigade of the Second Division (Matsu-
naga's Third Brigade) has, however, had much better
luck. It made a night attack on the enemy north of
* See Orders on p. 67.
WW^^'^mm^^'^^^^^'^mmwVH"^ "^"^m^^^
70 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
Sandiasi, and after some stiff fighting captured that
position. Not content with a success, which would
have been considered brilliant at the beginning of the
war, Matsunaga managed to press on in pursuit all
through the night, climbing lofty mountains and
scrambling across ravines until, just as dawn was
breakings he occupied the highest peak of the Seki-
monrei range (marked 243 on Map XXII.). In answer
to our warm congratulations he has just sent back a
message, saying that from this captured peak he can
see the promised land stretching out before him, and the
fair city of Liaoyang itself encircling the famous pagoda
(Sketch XX.). In fact, he has become quite poetical I
'' Lastly, we come to the Imperial Guards, whose
progress has been disappointing. They vigorously
attacked a Bussian brigade which lay across their line
of advance at Weizugo,* but the enemy had three
successive prepared positions and offered a stubborn
resistance. Consequently, the Guards have only
succeeded in reaching a line, Shihodai-Shosanshi, and
cannot at present get any further (Map XXII.). They
report, moreover, that the line they were ordered to take
up, namely, Mokabo-Yayuchi, appears to be the very
position selected by the Bussians for more formidable
defences than any yet encountered. However, we
shall see about that later on. Meanwhile, the Guards
cavalry, working wide on their left, has got into touch
with the cavalry of the Fourth Army at Kunshintai.
Thus, you see, good and evil fairly balance one another.
" The Twelfth Division has done aU that they were
asked to do. The main body of the Second Division
has fallen short of its objective by six miles, but, to
counterbalance this shortcoming, Matsunaga's Brigade
has exceeded its orders, and instead of merely linking
* Chinese, Weiohiakou.
fTt* or
Russian
VIEW OF THMI
TUB 2ND DIVISIOl
^ ^ ^'mm, i M. M
Thb Russians Betire 71
up with the Guards, has seized a commanding point
considerably in advance of their right.
** The Imperial Guards Division is the only one which
has not succeeded at any point in carrying out its
orders. There is no help for this, and more cannot be
expected from any troops than to fight three actions
against a strong rearward, within as many mUes. and
to win them each time. It seems probable, too, that
the threatening advance of Matsunaga behind the left
of the troops engaged with the Guards will facilitate
to-day's advance. On the whole then. Marshal Kuroki
is well satisfied.
" You must not forget that each of our Divisions is
faced by a Russian Division, and that the enemy have
moreover two full Divisions in reserve. We have lost
comparatively few men the last two days, but we lost
2000 on the 26th instant. The Second Division suffered
severely in the night attack. For instance, the 4th
Regiment lost its Colonel and the three Battalion
Commanders.
*^ To-day the Fourth Army will advance to the line
it was thought they might have occupied yesterday,
viz. : Saka (Shaho) to Shuisenpu {see Map XXIII.).
The Second Army should certainly reach the line
from Shaho to the river Liao. It is desired by Man-
churian headquarters that the First Army should
take up a line from the right of the Fourth Army at
Shuisenpu to the end of the mountains on the south
bank of the Taitsuho at KotagaL^ But the enemy is
occupying this very line of mountains from Shuisenpu
by Mokabo, and his trenches follow the crests of the
ridges in a north-easterly direction down to the
Taitsuho at EotagaL
** The position of the enemy would be enormously
* Obinese, Houtaohieh.
72 A Staff Offiokb's Scrap-Book
strong if the First Army stood alone, but the Fourth
Army has very favourable ground in front of it, which
should facilitate a turning movement of the right of
the Russians in front of this army. The problem now
to be solved is, will the enemy defend his present line,
or will he fall back on Mukden ? Supposing he retires
to the north, he would have to face the probability of
losing a considerable force in order that he might save
the bulk of his army.
"Prospects would be bright were it not for the
fatigue of our soldiers, amongst whom the Guards have
now been moving and fighting for five days and nights
without respite, and the other Divisions for four days
and nighta The enemy imagined that, after the
desperate fighting of the 26th, we would not press on
so fast as we have contrived to do until now. On
previous occasions, we have paused for a while after
each encounter, but this time we have pushed on day
and night, and we have the good news from Chinese
sources that the greatest confusion and disorder prevails
amongst the Eussians on the road between Haicheng
and Liaoyang."
Thereupon I took my leave and passed a very inter-
esting day in going over the Eussian entrenchments
and the battlefield of the 26th generally.
I shall not burden my diary with any technical de*
scriptions beyond saying that the Eussian gun-pits and
trenches were very complete and thorough, many of
them being lined with sandbags, and having covered
approaches leading fi*om the rear. The terrain is more
open here than it was on the centre and right, but I am
becoming increasingly certain, as I gain in experience,
that defence lines of the forbidding, precipitous type
are in truth generally more open to attack than a
The Bussians Bbtikb 73
simple, gently rising terrain which fiu^nishes those who
hold it with a wide, smooth field of fire and good
positions for their guns.
I have now thoroughly examined the country held
by the Eussian centre and right, extending over a dis-
tance of perhaps fourteen miles. I have also seen, at a
great distance it is true, the lofty Kosarei ridge held
by the Bussian left, which is, however, so conspicuous
and distinctive that it is comparatively easy to form an
idea of its features without any close inspection.
The conclusion I have come to after thus mastering
the ground, is that the Bussians made a fatal mistake
in taking up the line Yoshirei-Yushuling to fight the
battle of the 31st of July {see vol. L).
The Toshirei position, with its great spearheaded
salient enclosing the Towan valley, did not naturally
afford a symmetrical or cohesive line of defence,
although certainly General Keller made the best of it,
especially by his clever disposition of his artillery.
Then again, the Yushuling position, with Makurayama
as an outwork, was decidedly awkward and ill-knit to
hold against a determined attack. But the great
semicircular line of defence from which the Bussians
have just been driven was immensely strong and
offered nothing which could fairly be called a weak
spot to an assailant from the south. I think, then,
that it would have been wiser of Count Keller and
Turchefisky to have fought their battle of the 31st on
the line selected for the battle of the 26th August.
Had the Bussians acted thus, and resisted as
stubbornly as they did at Yoshirei, I greatly doubt
whether the Japanese would not still be fighting hard
on the wrong side of the Tangho.
No doubt it may be objected that, when Count
^ — ■ I «H 1^ ■
74 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
Keller was attacked on the 3l8t July, he was thinking
rather of offence against the Twelfth Division than of
defending himself. Indeed, onc# might-have-beens
make their speculative entry, argument becomes as
endless as a recurring decimal Still, this much is
certain. The Eussian positions on the 31st of July
were unsatisfactory in many ways. Those from which
they have now been ejected are exceptionally perfect
and strong.
I have a message from headquarters telling me that
to-morrow the Twelfth Division will not move, but will
simply reconnoitre on both banks of the Taitsuho and
complete its preparations for a crossing. The main part
of the Second Division is also to stand fast, as it must
wait for the Guards to fight their way up into line.
The only fighting that is to take place to-morrow,
unless the Russians advance, is to be a big attack by
the whole of the Guards Division, supported by Mat-
simaga's Brigade of the Second Division, on the enemy
entrenched north of Mokabo. I am further informed
that as I acted so philosophically in face of the refusal
to let me go into the battle yesterday, the Marshal
Kuroki is pleased to direct that I may go off to-morrow
with Colonel and ride via Kohoshi and Shihodai *
towards Mokabo.t I am authorised to approach as
close to Mokabo slb is compatible with keeping clear of
rifle fire.
Such a permission, giving me almost unlimited
discretion as to my movements, sounds almost too
good to be true.
* Ssufangtai. f Mencbiafang.
CHAPTEK XXII
WITH THE GUARDS DIVISION
BosHiSAN, Arigvst SOth, 1904. — Wet, tired, hungry;
all my belongings lost, and in return a little English
fox terrier gained.
But I must begin at the beginning.
We started at 9 a.m. and rode northwards for some
fourteen miles — at a great pace, according to Japanese
ideas. Fortunately, my companion was just as eager
as I was to get within radius of the fighting. At last
we entered the shell zone and found the troops hugging
the sides of the valleys and creeping and darting along
in real South African style, instead of marching down
the path in the usual columns of route. Our guide
here turned to the left, and we clambered up a height
about one and a heJf or two miles south-east of Mokabo.
On arriving at the summit we found we were about one
mile north-west of another similar high mountain on
which were two Japanese batteries firing an occasional
shell to the northwards. An extraordinary nmnber of
Bussian shells were bursting, apparently very much at
random, over all the ground. The enemy evidently
had not located the Japanese batteries, for although a
good many shells did fall about that mountain a con-
siderably greater number were bursting harmlessly on
the mountain upon which , myself, and an officer
from the Guards ammunition column were the only
76 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
living beings. A few came from the north ; first a &int
far-away whirr passing with swift crescendo into a
furious shriek, and ending in flash of flame and loud
explosion, whilst the released bullets, like a flight of
twittering birds, hissed past oui- ears or buried them-
selves amongst the stones at our feet. Others, the
majority, drove down upon us with a solemn musical
sound from the east, but these were fired at extreme
range, and the bullets had lost their sharp and vicious
note and buzzed heavy and slow like so many harmless
bumble-bees. In no case could I see the enemy's
batteries. All the country looked melancholy and
darL
I felt to-day as if a tragedy was being enacted : such
is the effect of mere weather on the mortal framework
which is to our sensitive souls what the barometer case
is to the changing needle.
The whole of the valleys north of us were at intervals
shrouded by the smoke of the rafales. Under this rain
of projectiles the Japanese batteries kept very quiet,
being unwilling, I imagine, to draw upon themselves a
more accurate and concentrated fire. On the top of
the mountain from which the two batteries were firing,
I counted nine individuals in waterproofs (for it was
raining), and made them out to be the foreign military
attaches belonging to the Guards Division.
I could see very clearly the firing-line of the Japanese
about 3000 yards to the north. It lay along a rounded
cultivated ridge about one-third of the way up to the
Russian trenches, which looked uncompromising and
grim. The distance between the Japanese and the
Russians cannot here have been more than 300 yards.
The firing-line itself was thick, and it was shooting for
all it was worth, but I noticed some supports come up
With the Guards Division 77
over the exposed ground in rear to reinforce, and they
crossed at a fast double and in very open order.
In fact, they moved more as individuals than as a
formed body, and if they had not been so numerous, I
should have thought they were ammunition carriers.
The officer of the ammunition colunm told us that the
troops we saw were the 3rd Guards Begiment, and
that the 29th Kobi was also fighting in front of us.
No one knew how the fight was going, but he opined
that these two regiments had got into a very tight
place. Just as we were speaking, the Japanese bat-
teries on the hill to our right rear opened a brisk fire
on the Russian trenches. Before a dozen rounds had
burst, I saw, to my surprise, the occupants clear out
and bolt back over the crest line. Nevertheless, for a
very long time the Japanese could make no advance
as the ground to their front appeared to be enfiladed
from Russian trenches further to the east.
At half-past three, however, the time had evidently
come, and I had the great luck to witness an assault
at a distance where I could distinguish through my
glasses the individual men more clearly than on either
the 81st of July or on the 26th instant. There was
no formation, unless little groups of from six to a
dozen men working quite independently could be
called formation. What happened was that the face
of the slope was suddenly covered by a loose mob
which, when regarded more closely, was discovered to
consist of very small parties extended at five or six
paces interval, all going best leg foremost up the hill
and devil take the hindmost.
I was rather too far to be able to say positively
that there was no firing, but there could have been
but little, as all these groups seemed to mask one
78 A Staff Offiokr's Scrap-Book
another completely. The artillery had already cleared
the trencheSi but other works further to the east were
still held by the enemy, and even after getting into
the position some of the Japanese had had to evacuate
it again and take up better natural cover a short dis-
tance in rear. Had there been many dead left behind
by the assault I think I must have seen them, but I
noticed no one fall, and I believe there can have been
hardly any loss. Now the Japanese were certainly
under infantry fire at medium range when they covered
the last 100 yards to the trenches, so their immunity
does not say very much for the accuracy of the Russian
musketry. It is not fair, of course, to be positive on
such a point from the safety of rocks nearly two miles
distant. The ground may have given more cover than
it seemed to give, or the Russians may have been
imder heavy infantry fire from other troops I could not
see. All I can do is to give my honest belief each time
and then at the end I may hope to convey a trustworthy
general impression. Applying this rule to the case in
point, I cannot help thinking that our own fellows
would have taken very heavy toll of the assailants
under identical conditions.
Prospects seemed bright for the Japanese, but
obviously the Russians were still in a stubborn mood.
I was looking at the crest of a mountain, with a
tumulus on ito western shoulder, which formed part of
the Russian position, when suddenly I saw a line of
some two hundred men step shoulder to shoulder
on to the sky line and into the field of vision of my
glass. I uttered an exclamation, and took my eye off
to point them out to my two companions. Next
moment I looked again, but not a soul could I see.
Evidently these were Russian reinforcements who had
With the Guards Division 79
dropped into a trench on the southern side of the crest
line.
For a long time, had been growing restive,
and now he insisted that he would get into trouble if
I did not make a start on our return journey, as he
had promised to bring me back to headquarters by
a reasonable hour. There was no help for it, and I
had to tear myself away as best I could from a fight
half fought.
Soon after starting on our long ride home, we came
across a little white English fox terrier being worried
by a huge pariah dog. A Chinaman had just driven
off the monster with a stone, and the plucky terrier,
though bleeding from the throat, was joining furiously
in the chase of the pariah which was quite ready to
fasten on to it again if given a chance. I whistled.
Instantly the little beast rushed to my horse, enchanted
once more to see a European amongst all these Asiatics.
The Chinaman seemed inclined to make some claim,
but I put my horse into a brisk trot, and the small
creature followed me quite gaily. After we had
travelled a mile or two, whilst she was running ahead
of me, some evil recollection seemed to cross her
mind, for she sat down suddenly by the roadside and
raising her head set up the most forlorn and miserable '
howl I ever heard in my life. I felt indeed sad for
this poor little atom. It was pitiful. However, the
pang of grief passed quickly, and soon she was running
and jumping about as cheerfully as ever.
Our horses were dead beat, and our road very soon
got blocked with transport and detachments of troops
and all the impedimenta of a great army. Before long
it grew dusk, and so in heavy rain we floundered
along, amidst crowds of men and vehicles. At last
_ I
80 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
I could see no further than ten or fifteen yards, yet,
whenever I cast my eye back I was aware of a white
dot threading its way close at my horse's heels, in and
out of hordes of Asiatics, clinging on to the one
European, who, like itself, was a stranger amongst the
multitude. Twice we had to cross the Tangho, here two
to three feet deep and 100 yards wide. * Through thick
and thin my small fellow-country dog stuck to me nobly.
The first time she swam the broad river, although it
must have seemed to her as boundless as the ocean, but
the next time I got Sergeant- Major Watanabe to hold
her before him on the pommel of his saddle. So, in
course of time, namely, at 9.40 p.m., we reached our
house, and found all dark and still. But there was a cart
drawn up before the gate, and our entry was effectively
barred. After shouting for a long time we roused the
household, and were informed that, by order of the
General Staff, our entire kit had marched away to
Amping, twelve miles distant, at three in the after-
noon.
Here was a fine predicament ! Horses dead beat !
Ourselves soaked, tired and hungry ; heavy rain falling,
and not the smallest chance of getting^to Amping that
night. I was very sorry for myself, and also more so
for my new chum. I felt she must think I had lured
her on with false pretences, and I am sure she
expected to find a nice Russian lady, with tea and
cakes, waiting for us by the side of a warm stove,
after so painful a journey. Eventually we resolved to
tryand beat up some one at Eo8hisan,and we managed to
make our horses crawl back as far as the village. Here
we have fortunately found a Post Commandant, a very
kind man, who has taken us in and given us a splendid
meal of rice, tomatoes, and Russian tinned meat^
With the Guabds Division 81
washed down with sake. He has also lent us each a
Grovernment blanket from his quartermaster's stores,
and our wet things wiU dry upon us during the
night.
EuBODANi {near Lbntowan), August 3l5«, 1904. —
Started for Amping at 9 A.M. Our horses were still
dead beat, after their thirty miles yesterday, and
hardly able to crawl along. We took four hours, there-
fore, to do the twelve miles, and when we got into
Amping village at 1 p.m. we found our kit in the act
of starting again to follow the headquarters on here,
where we are quartered on the left bank of the
Taitsuho. Taking out some barley for the horses and
some rice for ourselves, we let the cart go on, and
halted for a couple of hours' rest.
To my intense surprise, I found that the Chinese
farmer who was our host could talk some English ; he
also seemed to know at once that I was a British officer,
and hurried off to bring me his Chinese Bible, of which
he was immensely proud. He is a pupil, so he tells
me, of Doctor Westwater, of Liaoyang.
I asked him what he thought of the Russians.
He said they were kind men who paid for what
they took, but that they were somewhat wanting in
humanity. As he had in the same breath informed me
that they did not do any harm, I could not quite follow
him. At last, however, by the help of and Sumino,
I made out that his true meaning was, '' The Russians
are somewhat wanting in the quality of being human."
I was amused, as this is precisely the accusation
Occidentals bring against the Chinese.
When I caught up Headquarters here at 5.30 p.m., I
found them decidedly anxious and preoccupied. I was
naturally full of my own small adventures and obser-
n F
82 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
vations'^on the left of the army, but the moment was
obviously ill suited for bagatelles of that sort. How-
ever, from the few minutes' speech I secured, I gathered
I had been fortunate — if, indeed, it can be said to be
fortunate to witness a misfortune — when I went to the
Guards yesterday.
It seems that the 3rd Guards and the 29th Kobi,
whom I had seen so gallantly take the greater portion
of the enemy's trenches, had received no assistance
&om any of the other corps in their vicinity, and that
they were eventually driven back by the Russians, who
have now re-occupied all their previous positions. The
Guards, far from having any idea of renewing the
assault, are entrenching themselves as hard as they
can against a counter-attack.
This is a contretemps not only unexpected, but at the
present juncture peculiarly deplorable. For the plan
by which (as I hear for the first time) Kuroki was to
concentrate the whole of his army near Huankufun,"*^ on
the north bank of the Taitsuho, by the 2nd September,
has now been abandoned.
It had been reckoned that by this date the Fourth
Army would have advanced far enough to be able to
relieve the Imperial Guards, so that they might close
in and cross the Taitsuho with the rest of the First
Army. Had the scheme worked out smoothly, then,
with his own army complete and with the co-operation
of the Umezawa Brigade from Penchiho, Kuroki could .
have led 50,000 veteran and victorious troops in a '
tremendous onslaught on the Russian lines of commu-
nication. But the Fourth Army has not come as far
as Kuroki had expected, and I daresay, although I did
not venture tiO make such a suggestion, that the Guards i
* Chinese, Huankufen, j
•
With the Guabds Division 83
have not come as far as Marshal the Marquis Oyama
had reckoned on. It is naturally quite impossible to
bring the Guards away, as they are all that stand
between the Russians, who have victoriously repulsed
them, and the communications of the First Army. As
soon as Kuroki crosses the Taitsuho, only the Guards
Division and Matsunaga's Brigade of the Second Divi-
sion will be available on the south side of the river to
prevent the enemy at Mokabo, or east of it, from
marching right down to Amping. But it is impossible
to accentuate a risk which is serious enough already
by still further weakening this Japanese containing
force. Otherwise Kuroki would be positively inviting
the Russians about Mokabo to come down and cut his
communications.
It can be understood then how disappointed every
one here feels about the failure of the Guards, which
renders it necessary for Kuroki to make his perilous
plunge minus their support and that of Matsunaga's
Brigade. It is not the habit of the Japanese to attri-
bute blame ; not in the presence of foreigners, at least,
but I can see that there is no sort of tendency to criticise
the Guards. On the other hand, no one can understand
how it has come about that the Second Division did not
support them with Matsunaga's Brigade. It seems
that Matsunaga looked on yesterday and never fired a
shot to help the Guards to hold their own. Matsunaga
himself is a splendid fellow, and no doubt there will
be a satisfactory explanation forthcoming in the course
of the next day or two.
Meanwhile, it may be noted that this check to
Kuroki's left would not so very much have mattered
had the plan of the battle been based on correct
assxmiptions regarding the enemy.
84 A Staff Officer's Scbap-Book
If Kuropatkin is going to put his back to the wall
at Liaoyang and fight the decisive engagement of the
campaigii.as has hitherto been assumed by the Japanese,
then^here is no extraordii^ cause for hur^. and
the concentration of the First Army at Huankufun
might almost as well have taken place on the 3rd as
on the 2nd September. But now a new and unforeseen
factor has all of a sudden obtruded itself. Kuropatkin
is not going to stake Russia's destinies on the issue of
a single great battle. This time he is not going to
repeat the tactics of the Talu and sit still whilst
around him the Japanese General Staff spider
spins her web. Last night he made up his mind to
retire 1 *
Such is the opinion of our Headquarters to-night,
* Some remarks made later on this subject by a very well-informed
Staff officer supply an interesting comment on this part of the
diary, especially as there seems to underlie them an intention to
anticipate adverse criticism. He said : ''It was on August SOth
that the event took place which prevented us from making our pre-
arranged attack on Liaoyang. That is to say, the attack could not
be carried into effect on the lines we had carefully thought out, and
we simply had to push off into pursuit from whatever positions we
were occupying at the moment. I do not know what Kuropatkin
may have reported in this connection, but it is a fact that on the
80tii the enemy began to retire. From the positions held by the
Second and Twelfth Divisions we could see the enemy on the south
bank of the Taitsuho falling back on Liaoyang, whilst two or three
of his Divisions were crossing the river and moving northwards.
Erom the position held by the Guards we could see also that the
enemy from Koraison was also retiring on Liaoyang. Finally, from
information received from Marshal the Marquis Oyama the enemy
seemed to be falling back even from Liaoyang itself. If this evidence
was not already quite conclusive that Kuropatkin was in full retreat,
I might adduce the further fact that from hill 186 we could see the
railway north of Liaoyang, along which trains were passing in the
direction of Mukden, at intervals of five or six minutes. Therefore,
whatever the Bussians may now pretend, we actually, with our own
I
With thb Guabds Division 85
and on it they have based a fresh scheme in sub-
stitution for their original carefuUy weighed plan of
operations.
Put into a few words, the latest arrangements pro-
vide for the immediate hurried crossing of the Taitsuho
by Kuroki at the head of little more than one-third of
his army. Indeed, there is no help for it, supposing
that he must forthwith take the fateful step. Obvi-
ously, the Umezawa Brigade cannot leave Ohaotao
without first driving the Russians out of Penchiho, and
cannot therefore co-operate for several days. And I
have already shown how the Guards, and Matsunaga's
Brigade of the Second Division cannot possibly march
eyes, did see them on August 30th retreating as fast as they could.
The question we now have to solve is, what course under such
circumstances should have been pursued by the Commander of the
First Army ? It seemed clear enough that he was bound to abandon
the plan of attack he had so carefully prepared, and that, however
hazardous and difficult such a movement might be, he must instantly
despatch such a force as he could lay his hands upon across the
Taitsuho. The Second and Fourth Armies were also compelled to
depart from their well-thought-out schemes, and simply pursue the
Russians as best they could. It was under these circumstances that
the Marshal Kuroki ordered the Twelfth Division and half of the
Second Division to cross the Taitsuho at Lentowan. The only
possible excuse for so small a force putting a swift and deep river
between them and their friends was that the enemy was retreating.
Kuropatkin determined to retreat, and began his preparations for
that purpose on the evening of August 29th. If it were true, as
Kuropatkin has reported, that his army began to retreat on Septem-
ber 3rd, then he could not possibly have carried it out in so masterly
a manner unless he had first defeated the Japanese armies.''
As this is a very much discussed subject, I thought I would settle
it once and for all as far as the Japanese are concerned. Accord-
ingly, I took an opportunity during the winter of consulting the
Ohief of Staff, Manchurian Armies — Qeneral Baron Kodama — and
he replied to my question, ** Kuropatkin determined to retire on the
night of August 31st."
86 A Staff Officer-s Scbap-Book
away eastwards leaving the Mandarin road open to an
advance southwards by a victorious enemy with whom
they are still in close contact. Instead of 60,000 men
then, Kuroki must content himself with 20,000. In
common with Caesar's Rubicon, the Taitsuho of Kuroki
may offer no insuperable barrier to the mere movement
of the troops, but once they set foot on the further bank
their commander commits himself to play for the
highest stakes. He need not bum his pontoon boats,
for the enemy's shell will do that for him fast enough
if his forces prove insufficient to maintain their
ground.
It seems that all the main points of this new scheme,
based upon Kuropatkin's retreat, were settled on
the 30th, and the Twelfth Division were ordered to
cross the Taitsuho at Lentowan that same night, and
then to move northward down the right bank of the
river until they found a good position to cover the
passage of Okasaki's Brigade of the Second Division.
The Twelfth Division have carried out their orders.
Much to the discredit of the Cossacks, they were per-
mitted to do so without any trouble or hitch. But the
Headquarters Staff are hardly recovered yet from the
fright they got during the night when the large force
of the enemy opposite Shobyoshi and Sekishoshi,*
amounting to more than a Division, were reported,
erroneously as it turned out, to be threatening a for-
ward movement. We know that in ordinary life
actions which appear small and trivial in themselves
may yet have the most far-reaching effects. In war,
however, the truth of the principle is much more
immediately recognisable.
OnHhe night of the 30th, the whole of the Twelfth
* Chinese, Shuangmiaotsu and Shihchutsu.
vm^v
MANJV VAMA
(flKCCAKf HJLtJ.
YCMTAI
COALMtNC
With the Guabds Division 87
Division was definitely committed to the crossing of
the Taitsuho, and the main body of the Second Division
had concentrated by 10 p.m. at Kosojo* for the
purpose of following the Twelfth Division to the
Lentowan ford by way of the Henyu. The lines of
communications of both these Divisions crossed the
Tangho at the same spot, Amping. Matsunaga's
Brigade was twelve miles to the south-west, assisting
the Guards to contain another of the enemy's Divisions,
and the Guards themselves were still further away in
the same direction. Absolutely the only troops avail-
able to make face to the enemy's Division on the heights
beyond Shobyoshi and Sekishoshi were four Japanese
companies — two near Sekishoshi and two a little to
the north of Shobyoshi. If a Bussian brigade had
come down from its position and overwhelmed these
four companies, or even if one Russian battalion had
marched round their left into the valley of the Tangho,
then in neither case was there anything available to
defend Amping from a coup de main but masses of camp
followers and supply columns.
Small wonder, then, that the Headquarters Staff are
in no mood to appreciate the recital of my adventures,
which to myself had appeared so interesting and
important.
A bold stroke at Amping by the heavy force of
Russians, from whose undefeated front the Japanese
had begun to clear as soon as it became dark, would
have cut Kuroki's forces clean in two and, even if
eventually repulsed, would have probably so destroyed
and disorganised his transport as to put the First
Army out of action for several weeks to come.
* Chinese, Kusaocheng.
CHAPTER XXin
KUROKI CROSSES THE TAITSUHO
As I have several times criticised the Japanese for
being over cautious, it is only feir to draw attention
to the enormous risks Kuroki took upon himself last
night. To cross a river in fece of the emeny has been
considered a delicate military operation since the days
of Germanicus, but when, in addition to the dangers of
flood and fire in fifont, a powerful force of the enemy is
posted in a strong position on the near side of the
river within five miles of the proposed point of cross-
ing, then indeed the attempt makes heavy demands
upon the audacity of the General.
Kuroki fully realised his danger. It had been
intended that the Second Division should have
attacked and carried the Russian positions on the
high ground immediately south and south-west of
Sekishoshi as a necessary preliminary to the passage
of the river. The entrenchments, however, look very
formidable, and it seems certain that Europatkin has
given the order to retreat which will imply their early
evacuation. It has been decided, therefore, to leave
the Russians alone, and, relying upon their presumed
lack of initiative, to trust four companies of Japanese
infantry to contain them.
Never was presumption better justified. The
Russian Divisions remained immobUe. The Twelfth
KuROKi Crosses the Taitsuho 89
Division crossed at Lentowan before daybreak, and
advanced northward up the right bank as soon as it
was light to cover the crossing of the Second Division.
To-day they have swung round westwards, following
the river, and are now facing the Russians • at Huan-
kufon with their left resting on the Taitsuho and their
line running round in a semicircle to cover the
Swallow's Nest Hill (see Map XXII.). Whflst the
Twelfth Division were getting into position, Okasaki's
Brigade began at 9 a.m. this morning to ford the
river near Lentowan, and by 1 p.m. they had all got
through safely to the right bank. The Field Artillery
were forced to wait for a bridge and meanwhile took
up a position to assist the deployment of the army on
the northern bank, and, if necessary, to check any
aggressive movement from the west.
I could learn nothing about the progress of the
Second and Fourth Armies, but I was told that,
whilst I had been away from headquarters, orders had
been sent to General Umezawa which were calculated
to bring him into our sphere of operations before very
long. He had been at Chaotao in command of a
mixed brigade of Kobi, with which he had been
watching Penchiho, where a smaU force of Russians
had remained after the retirement of the bulk of their
troops on Liaoyang. Umezawa has now been directed
to attack Penchiho on the night of the 30th, after
which he is to march westwards and join hands with
Euroki to the north of the Taitsuho.
The situation, then, as far as I can ascertain it before
turning in, is something like this : Europatkin is said
to be retreating northwards on Mukden as fast as he
can. Nevertheless, a big force of Russians are entrench-
ing themselves amongst the Euyentai hills. From
90 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
their position some five miles to our west, on the other
side of the river, they have been firing heavily but very
wildly, much of the shrapnel bursting high or wide of
the mark. On our left, the Imperial Guards have
gained a little ground in the direction of Mokabo, but
at Bohodai on their right they and Matsunaga's Brigade
of the Second Division are still sitting down opposite
the position they were driven from on the 30th. The
29th Regiment of Kobi, however, Kuroki's reserve on
the 26th, which he had sent from Lienshankuan to help
the Guards in their difficulties, has now been recalled
and is to join the Second Division as soon as possible
on the north bank of the Taitsuho. Under Kuroki's
direct orders, Okasaki's Brigade of the Second Division
and the whole of the Twelfth Division have taken up a
position near Huankufun.
Kankuantun,* September 1st, 1904. — For the
seventh morning in succession earth and air are tremb-
ling to the thunder of guns firing at all distances and
in every direction. tells me that a pontoon bridge
has been built diuing the night, and that we are to
follow Kuroki across it.
We started at 7 A.M., and after marching a short
distance our road divided, one track leading to the left^
apparently to the river, the other going half-right. I
felt sure we should take the road to the lefb, but
was even more positive we should go to the right. We
did so, and after riding two or three miles we came to
the high ground overlooking Lentowan, where there
was no bridge ! I could not resist saying, " I told you
so" — a phrase which, agreeable as it may be in the
* Chinese, Houkwantun. At this time, although I did not
know it, Umezawa on the extreme right had captured Penchiho
{Me Map XXIII.).— I. H.
KuBOKi Cbossbs the Taitsuho 91
utterance, is never quite worth the eventual cost ; and
so there developed a marked coldness. I did not, how-
ever, so much regret the loss of time, as we happened
to arrive just as a company of Japanese infantry was
crossing the ford. The water came up to their arm-
pits, and it seemed to me that they must be firmer on
their feet than Europeans, not to be carried away by
the current. Rough, broken hills came down to within
half a mile of the ford. I presume they were picqueted
by Japanese troops, but they look to me as if they had
been expressly made by Providence to facilitate a pro-
tracted opposition to the crossing by such troops as
the Cossacks have until now been supposed to be.
Retracing our steps to the parting of the ways, we
now took my road, and arrived afler a few hundred
yards, at a very fine pontoon bridge, which took
only one and a half hours to construct. We crossed,
and then, turning west, scaled a tumulus-shaped
hill of about 150 feet in height, crowned by the
half-ruined battlements of a Chinese fort, called the
Swallow's Nest.
It was now almost noon. Euroki and his Staff were
here, but, with very mixed feelings, I saw that the
military attaches with the Second Division and half a
dozen of my friends, the journalists, were also on the
ground.
The first to greet me was Vincent. I have rarely
seen any one so disreputable. He had slept in a muddy
puddle by the roadside, and, to judge by what he' had
carried away with him on his clothes, he must have
left it as clear as crystal. He looked very pinched and
thin, and the seat of his breeches had been repaired with
a large piece of a Russian greatcoat.
He knew nothing of the general situation — nothing
92 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
whatever ; but he had collected a lot of valuable notes
concerning the advance of his own Division.
A few minutes later, I passed him again. I could
not imagine how his whole appearance seemed to have
been transformed into one of radiant beatitude until I
saw in his hand a tin which reminded me of happier
days. I said, " Good heavens, Vincent, what is that ?"
He said, " It is an empty tin of raspberry jam Max-
well of the Standa/rd has just given me/' I exclaimed,
" Did Maxwell give you an empty tin of jam ? " *' Oh,
no," he replied, "I mean it is now empty." And so it was;
not even a stickiness dulled the polished bottom of the
tin, which, as I told Vincent with some bitterness, was
certainly by far the cleanest thing he had about
him..
After all, the stream of information did continue to
flow without apparent interruption.
The first item was good, namely, that Umezawa's
Brigade had duly captured Penchiho on the extreme
right of the army. The next concerned the positions
of the enemy, with whom we were in contact on the
northern back of the Taitsuho, and certainly we could
not have wished for a finer view of these positions than
we got from our Swallow's Nest {see Sketch XXI.).
Immediately to the south, at our very feet, the broad
and rapid Taitsuho ran due west for some three miles,
when it turned northwards and, making a complete
semi-circle the arc of which would measure about two
miles, flowed away to the south out of our sphere
of action. Where the river takes its turn to the
south, it washes the steep lower slope of a mountain
marked on the Russian map 131. This 131 is ob-
viously an ugly fellow to tackle ; and on his southern
spur are guns, and the crest lines are entrenched
mmm
KuBOKi Cbosses the Taitsuho 93
in several places, though not, apparently, very
heavily. From 131 a long, low feature runs out
northwards, and ends in a flattened hillock perhaps
fifty feet high, which the soldiers have christened
Manjuyama, or Bice cake Hill. Just beneath the
slight col which connects mountain 131 with Manju-
yama, nestles amidst its orchards a fairly large village
called Hsikuantun. Beyond Manjuyama the ground
is fairly level until, some two and a half miles to the
north-east of it, a curious five-headed hill about 200
feet high — Gochosan by name — rises up out of the
luxuriant crops. North of Gochosan a long ridge con-
tinues for about four miles, ending in a round hill with
a small house on the top of it which we were told over-
looked the Yentai coal mines. The whole plain is a
mass of high kaoliung crops.
It is desperately tedious to write so much descrip-
tion, but I shall never succeed in my report unless* I
get the lie of the country firmly fixed in my own mind,
and the only way of doing so is either to live here for
a week or to put it all down direct fi:om nature.
To gain a general idea of the scene, it must be noted
that at the Swallow's Nest Hill we had just emerged
for the first tune for four months from endless ranges
of mountains. Looking north, south, east or south-
west the fitmiliar spiky pyramids still stood with stately
ranks unbroken, but, apart from the outposts formed
by Mountain 131, Manjuyama and Gochosan, the
whole country to the west was an undulating and
apparently open plain. I say " apparently open,"
because, actually, the kaoliung crops, from eight to
twelve feet high, gave it all the tactical characteristics
of dense forest.
The Bussians, in force unknown, were holding a
94 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
semicircular position with their right on Mountain
131, and their line running north-eastwards thence by
Hsikuantun, Manjuyama, Gochosan. Our own First
Army — ^as many of them, that is to say, as had crossed
the river — were spread out beneath us like a fan.
Okasaki's Brigade of the Second Division was on the
left, and had been endeavouring to work up to 131
and Hsikuantun since 6 A.M. ; the Twelfth Division
was on the right and had already at the time of
my arrival made good its footing on the Gochosan
hiU.
Twenty.four Japanese guns had come into action at
6.30 A. M. from entrenchments dug durmg the night on
alow ridge running north and south some 500 yards to
the east of Huankufen (see Sketch XXI.). There were
hundreds of Eussian shrapnel bursting in rafcUes of
eight over and beyond these guns. . The enemy's bat-
teries had ranged on another ridge about 400 yards
beyond their real objective. Some trees grew upon
the further ridge, and no doubt helped the common
optical delusion whereby from a distance two features
merge into one, and the intervening valley escapes
notice.
All gunners are aware of their liability to go
wrong from this cause, but the Kussian practice of
ranging in the air with time shrapnel instead of
on the ground by percussion shrapnel, undoubtedly
gives greater scope for such mistakes. Anyway,
the Eussian rafales^ so savage in their seeming,
were no more dangerous to the artillery against which
they were directed than a Crystal Palace fireworks
display.
General Kuroki himself told me that at 9 A.M. he had
received a message from Oyama's Chief of the Staff —
o^
ULfflNf
J RVASIAH
^t C.t%. HO^trXBM
eNr>t.A&e» MAMJ
SePTcZ-j"
FPP^"
KuROKi Ckossbs the Taitsuho 95
Kodama — ^telling him that, since the 31st, the enemy
had been retiring in front of the Fourth Army, who
had, at daybreak to-day, captured Hsinlitun (Map
xxin.).
Simultaneously, the Second Army had occupied an
important hill west of Hsinlitun with its right column,
whilst the next Division still further to the west had
carried Shuisenpu after losing very heavily. It seems
clear, therefore, to Kuroki that the Second and Fourth
Armies have made a most important advance, and he
concludes that they must by now be in hot pursuit of
the enemy. He is further confirmed in his view by a
message which came in at mid-day telling him that the
Guards had occupied the range north of Mokabo at
11 A*M.
Kuroki is radiant. The great moment of his life
has arrived. He has only to burst through at Manju-
yama and Mountain 131 to fix himself astride the
railway to Mukden, which can be clearly seen, looking
westwards over the village of Hsikuantun^ bearing its
busy trains northward. Several of the Staff have re-
minded me, as if I needed reminding, that to-day is the
anniversary of Sedan. How strange if history should
repeat itself I The hopes of the Japanese run high,
and anything seems possible. I have sent the follow-
ing cable : " First September. Since previous telegram
six days nights incessant hard fighting, marching, en-
trenching. Troops sleepless last three nights, but
Kuroki giving enemy no respite and by crossing
Taitsuho fair prospects securing fullest results great
victory."
Faithfully as I believe my cables have reflected the
spirit prevailing at the moment amongst our allies,
there is some bad luck about them from the Japanese
96 A Staff Officbe's Sckap-Book
point of view, and certainly there seems danger that
they will bring bad luck to me.
At 1.50 a message came in, couched in somewhat
alarming terms, to say that a Russian column two
miles long was moving down from the neighbourhood
of the Yentai coal mines, and threatening to roll up the
right of the army.
Such information does not tally with the view that
the Russians are in full flight, and I note a great change
in the mood of all my friends. Lieut.-General Inouye,
commanding the Twelfth Division, advises Kuroki to
suspend his advance westwards until measures can be
taken to probe the full significance of this threatening
movement from the north.
Okasaki, however, had committed his Fifteenth Bri-
gade too far to the attack of Manjuyama to be able
either to stand fast or withdraw. So, at least, he chose
to put it. He therefore informed Headquarters that he
had aaked the officer commanding th^ Second Division
artillery to support him, and that he had also begged
General Inouye to permit the mountain guns of the
Twelfth Division to fire at Manjuyama. The request
for the assistance of the Mountain Artillery was
granted, but the officer commanding Second Division
said that if he was to shell Manjuyama he must move
up 1000 yards nearer the hill, a very difficult business,
even with the kaoliung to conceal his movements, and
necessitating the digging of fresh gun-pits in advance,
which must take time.
To a British soldier it is most interesting to note
that, although his own Divisional Commander,
Lieutenant-GenersJ Nishi, was somewhere on the field,
Okasaki did not hesitate to send direct to the officer
commanding. Second Division artillery, who was not
KuBOKi Crosses the Taitsuho 97
under his orders, to ask him to carry out a vital,
although dangerous, movement; also to mark, learn, and
inwardly digest the fact that the artillery commander
never dreamed for a moment of standing off on any
mere point of punctilio.
When British merchants find their conunercial
supremacy threatened by the Germans, they appear
very often to think that it is their Government or
their workmen which are to blame ; so, at least, I
iudge by what I have often seen written. It may be
so. But it would be a bad sign for our army if we
hesitated fireely to acknowledge that in the ethics of
militarism we have an inunense amount to learn from
the Germans. Okasaki's confident appeal to the
officer commanding the Second Division artUlery ;
the generosity of Nishi and the willingness with which
the sniuB advanced, all this is pure evidence of German
tea^Sg grafted inio Samarai'»»«lffehne«. Gennan
formations may be too close, according to some opinions;
their trust in the sabre and the lance may be vieiLX jeu
according to the views of a few conscientious critics ;
but no one who studied 1870 and recognised the
loyalty with which German generals supported each
other ; who has considered how ungrudgingly assist-
ance was rendered, whether asked for or not, irrespective
of the corps or even of the army to which such units
belonged, can doubt that in these respects we stand
far behind the Germans of thirty-four years ago. If
any one does doubt it, let him study some of our South
African battles care&lly, and then read the story of
Spicheren and Worth.
From all I can gather, it is clear that Okasaki is the
leading spirit of the attack now in progress and, gene-
rally, in the decision to maintain the offensive on the
n G
98 A Staff Officbb's Sorap-Book
lefty threaten what may on the right. I think Euroki,
Inouye, and Fujii would all prefer to refuse their right
and centre imtil the situation on the right flank has
been cleared up^ but the bold commander of the 15th
Brigade sees only the enemy interposing between him
and the railway, and has flung to the winds their pru-
dence as well as his own. Feeling themselves more
or less committed by the calculated Nelsonian impetu-
osity of Okasaki, Kuroki and his Stafi have accepted
the challenge of fortune, and are doing all they
possibly can to ensure him success. The Shimamura
Brigade (12th) of the Twelfth Division has been
promptly ordered to wheel northwards, and has taken
up a position about Gochosan to meet the two-mile
Russian colinnn coming from Yentai. Under cover of
this flank guard, the Kigoshi Brigade of the Twelfth
Division has closed in towards the 15th Brigade to
support Okasaki's attack, and all available guns have
received orders to lessen their distance from Man-
juyama so as to shell it at efiective ranges.
By 4.30 P.M. the Japanese guns were fiu*iously
pounding this hillock. The slight entrenchments were
not deep enough or solid enough to stand such
treatment, and as the clouds of black smoke from
high explosive shell mingled with the snowy pufis of
the shrapnel and settled more and more closely over
Maujuyama's brow, I saw many of the defenders
evacuate their shelters and rim desperately back in
hopes, often &lsified, of escaping with their lives over
to the far side of the crest.
At 5.80 the opinion was freely expressed on the
Swallow's Nest hill that the Bussians would be forced
by such a fire to evacuate Manjuyama completely.
But not a bit of it; at 6.30 they were reinforced,
EXTBOKI CbOSSES THE TaITSUHO 99
and at 7 p.m. word came back to say that in face of
the cross fire of the Russian artillery from positions
north-west, west and south of Manjuyama, there
seemed small prospect that the Fifteenth Brigade
would be able to work up to within assaulting distance
in daylight. From two or three officers I heard
the half-anxious, half-indignant remark, '^ the Guards
should be here with us; we ought never to have
crossed without the Guards." The situation is now
no longer viewed through rose-coloured spectacles, but
still Euroki is full of good hope of breaking through
to-night, and all that can be done is being done with
that end in view. Urgent orders have been despatched
to Umezawa to move on Yentai so soon as he has
captured Penchiho''^ ; Matsunaga has been directed to
leave the Guards and to complete the Second Division
by bringing his Third Brigade to join Okasaki's
Fifteenth Brigade ; even the two companies of the
Second Division who had been left at Shobyoshi have
been hurriedly summoned up firom the south bank
of the river.
As the sup sank below Manjuyama crest, sending
out strange red streamers of light into the northern
sky, the volume of the musketry increased until it
surpassed in its violence anything I have ever heard.
The artillerymen on either side worked for their
lives round their bellowing guns and sent continuous
streams of shells shrieking through the deepening
gloom. In the fading light every flash of gun or
bursting shrapnel showed up against the dull red
background of the sunset like those vivid sparks
which coruscate here and there on the surface of
a sheet of molten metal as it cools. But the night
* By this time it was already captured.
100 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
came on apace and then all became still and very
dark.
10.30 P.M. — I returned to Kankuantun at 9, but
have been on the roof of my house for the last half-
hour. For at about a quarter to ten, just as the moon
rose^ the firing broke out again on Manjuyama even
more furiously than at sunset. The mountains and
the river banks and the houses re-echo to the con-
tinuous, angry, growling sound of the musketry.
The most bitter fight is illuminating the slopes of the
hillock, and I could see its shape outlined by innumer-
able little dazzling specks, showing the thousands of
rounds which were being fired. Himdreds of human
souls are passing away yonder where the hill-side
flashes flame. I feel very much afraid, and wish I
had some one by me to hold me by the hand.
1 A.M. — The noise of the battle murders sleep. The
flashes of the rifles are now like those sparks which
break in clusters from the dark cylinder of a dynamo,
and on the night wind, mingling with the interminable
fusillade, comes an occasional low, tremulous, very
human sound — it must be — it can only be — ^the shout of
those that triiunph blended by kindly distance with
the heavy groans of the fallen. How can I sleep when
less than three miles distant men with rage and death
in their hearts, with haggard eyes and trembling
hands, are struggling for the mastery with fire and
steel ? I am deeply depressed by the events of to-day,
which disclose a half-hearted, dangerous plan of
operations. If we fail to-night at Manjuyama, we
may be pushed into the river to-morrow, or driven
off our communications on to Penchiho. It seems to
me that Kuropatkin can keep Oyama in play as long
as he likes, first with his fortifications, secondly with
KuBOKi Ceosses the Taitsuho 101
the Taitsuho ; long enough anyway to swallow us up
completely. To do the big thing we are here aiming
at we need every man of our army, and at the very
least a full Division of the Fourth Army. What mad-
ness induced me to send that sanguine cable this
morning before realising how much of our force we
were leaving on the south of the river ? *
* I am tempted to cut out this faint-hearted reaction from my
previous over-oonfidence, but as I am dealing with my impreseions
just as they arose I feel I have no right to suppress my mistakes. —
I. H.
CHAPTER XXIV
MANJUTAMA
Kankuantun, September 2nd, 1904. — ^Rose finally at
4 A.M., after a sleepless night, and, crossing by the
pontoon, again climbed the Swallow's Nest hill. No
one had arrived there yet except one, a junior oflficer
of the General Staff, and he told me the Headquarters
had passed a bad night, but that Okasaki has captured
the hill all right, although he has suffered great losses.
The grisly phantoms of last night have vanished in
the cool grey light of morning — thank God !
It seems that so long as yesterday's daylight lasted
an assault had been impracticable. Before storming
such a hillock as Manjuyama, exposed to the enemy's
gun fire firom three directions, it was necessary to con-
sider, not only the primary cost of the assault but also
the position of the stormers if successful Exposed to
such a terrific shell storm as it would have been in the
power of the enemy to concentrate upon them, they
must have been blown to bits long before they could
dig themselves into comparative safety. We were
mistaken, then, yesterday evening in thinking that
the intensity of the musketry meant that Okasaki was
seriously trying to effect a lodgment on Manjuyama.
As soon, however, as the crepuscule had deepened
into the profound obscurity which last night preceded
Manjuyama 103
the rising of the moon, he advanced his brigade through
the kaoliung to within rushing distance.
Each battalion moved with one company in line,
leading, followed at close interval by the other three
companies in section colimms at deploying intervals.
The direction was kept by the compasses of the officers.
The signal for the onslaught was to be the rising of
the moon.
It was nearly 10 o'clock when the first pale moon-
beams stole across the battlefield, and no sooner did
Manjuyama's ridge emerge ghost-like at that summons
from the darkness than the 30th Begiment under the
brave old Colonel Baba charged into its northern face
with a tremendous Banzai yell. They made good their
footing, and then came the turn of the 16th Begiment,
which also dashed in fiercely, and effected a lodgment
on the hillock's southern slope& But the Bussians
here were stout fellows, although not very numerous
or strongly entrenched, and those holding the central
part of the position were not at all inclined to say
Amen to a Japanese Banzai Till midnight, con-
fused and passionate fighting took place backward
and forward over the shell scarred features of this
little Bice-cake hill, about which hour the last handful
of the Bussians holding on round a small tumulus on
the summit were fairly forced back into the surround-
ing sea of kaoliung.
Hardly had the Japanese realised that they were
masters of the position, when two of the enemy's
battalions made a determined counter-attack against
the right flank of the 30th Begiment. Had these
two battalions come as a reinforcement a few minutes
earlier, whilst their own men were still maintaining
their grip of the summit, the results of the night's
104 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
fighting might have been different. Ab it was, the
counter-attack was repulsed after half an hour's fight-
ing, leaving a lieutenant-colonel and many others dead
behind on the ground.
The great danger, the advance of the Bussians from
the Yentai coal mines against the unsupported
Shimamura Brigade covering the right flank of the
assailants of Manjuyama on the Grochosan hills, has
never come to a head. The enemy in this quarter have
shown no determination. They had opened fire at
long range, first with a couple of field-guns, and after-
wards with a battery ; they had done a little long-
range infantry skirmishing, and that was all.
Umezawa had found it necessary to advance north -
wards beyond Penchiho towards Pingtaitsu (Map
XXIII.), so as to drive off the enemy completely,
before obeymg his orders, and turning westwards.
Matsunaga's Brigade of the Second Division is on its
way back from coK>perating with the Guards, and
should arrive here before mid-day. The Twenty-ninth
Kobi has actually arrived, and has alrectdy joined
Okasaki.
Such was the situation as explained to me early in
the morning. On account of the kaoliung, I could see
no infantry except the Russians on 131 and Japanese
on Manjuyama and Gochosan. The muffled, booming
sound of a heavy cannonade came faintly to our ears
over Mountains 131 and 151, which interpose between
the Swallow's Nest on which we stand and Liaoyang,
where soon we hope to stand {see Sketch XXI.).
Kuroki and his Staff turned up about 7 a.m. They
seemed in good spirits. Kuroki admits he could not
close his ears to the fusillade about Manjuyama, but,
when it ceased, he says he felt so confident of a
Manjuyama 105
Japanese victory that he was able to sleep soundly till
sunrise.
News has come to hand from the Second Army to
the effect that they intend to push on to-day to the
south bank of the Taitsuho. The Guards also report
that the Fourth Army has made such progress as to
relieve them of any fear lest the Russians still facing
them should take the initiative.
Under these circumstances, General Kuroki feels
bound to redouble his efforts so as at least to keep pace
with the progress of the other armies. He has there-
fore ordered the Guards to march northwards, cross the
river near Kaochintsi and attack Mountain 151, which
lies immediately south-west of Mountain 131, and is
similarly covered from assault by the Taitsuho flowing
along its steeply scarped southern slopes. All is pos-
sible if the Russians are on the point of retiring, and if
Okasaki, as Kuroki mentions in the same order, is at
once going to take Mountain 131 ; otherwise, the task
seems impossible — unless, indeed, the Guards, like
ducks, can first swim the river and then fly up the
precipitous face of the mountain.
Just at this time, namely, 8 a.m., I saw the first step
beine taken by Okasaki to capture 131. Several com-
panil of his infantry* worked up apparently from
Hsikuantun village, and effected a lodgment a little
way up on the northern spur of the mountain. This
feature does not run up in one continuous slope to the
sununit, but is broken into three successive waves or
knolls. At present the Japanese are clinging very
closely to the lower of these under features.
It was whilst I was watching this plucky detachment
that the Russian guns began a feu d'enfer against
* Three companies Ist Battalion 4th Begiment.
106 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
Manjuyama. From north, south, and west they
rained shells on Okasaki and his men, who could only
lie low and send up to us a melancholy message saying
that an advance beyond Manjuyama was impossible
owing to the strength of the enemy about Heyentai
and Safutun, and that it was becoming very necessary
to do something against theRussian artillery. Certainly
this is so; but even the batteries which had again
advanced during the night to the north-west of Huan-
kufun cannot locate the enemy's guns, which are firing
indirect, probably from behind kaoliung crops. More-
over, as Lieutenant-Colonel Kurita said to me the other
day, every shot fired from a Japanese gun takes a day
off his life, and although our friends are none of them
likely to tell me so, I strongly suspect that after all
the shooting of the past seven days they have not any
superabundance of shot in their lockers.
Meanwhile, the General Staff are delighted that a
commencement has been made in the taking of 131, and
have sent (at 9 a.m.) these orders to the commanders
of the Second and Twelfth Divisions.
(1) The main force of the enemy is retreating
towards Mukden. The Umezawa brigade^ is advancing
on the coal mines, and the Imperial Guards on 151.
(2) The First Army is to pmsue the enemy with its
main force.
(S) The Twelfth Division will pursue towards San-
doha.t The Second Division, after taking 131, will
advance towards Lotatai.
Kiuroki's confidence is certainly magnificent. Mat-
sunaga's brigade has now (9.30 A.M.) crossed and
marched on to assist Okasaki, but the men are dead-beat
• From Penchibo.
t Chinese, Santaopa {aee Map XXXV.),
SI
sc
= !
e i
.(
Makjuyama 107
and will not be able to do much for the next twenty-
four hours. To judge by the firing, there is hard
fighting going on between the Shimamura brigade
and the Russians north of Grochosan, and Kiu*oki and
his Staff look in this direction much longer and more
earnestly than they do at the shelling of Manjuyama
or at the Japanese companies clinging to the spur on
131, so I daresay our fate is being decided even now
as I write. One thing is of good augury ; as the morn-
ing wears on the sound of the firing to the north
comes more and more faintly to our ears.
5 P.M. — ^Welcome news has come in from Shimamura
showing that the menacing Kussian column from the
north has been swept away by the Twelfth Brigade,
Twelfth Division, with unexpected ease. It seems
that the five hills of Gochosan are separated by about
a mile of low country, full of ravines and covered with
crops, firom a long bare plateau about 100 feet high,
half a mile broad, and three and a half miles long,
which stretches northwards as far as the Yentai coal
mines. Super- imposed upon this plateau are two or
three groups of round bare hills about 100 feet high,
and standing, therefore, full 200 feet above the sea of
kaoliung which wraps the whole face of the plain in
its mantle of invisibility.
In the early morning, the Russian column two miles
long (which has developed, according to the prisoners'
reports, into a brigade of infantry and a considerable
force of Cossacks under General Orloff) began to move
off the Yentai plateau against Gochosan. They took
no precaution to cover their advance by reconnaissance
or scouting parties, and permitted the head of the
column to be caught in close order amongst the low
broken ridges and ravines near the village of Taiyo
108 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
and between the two ranges of hills. Here the
Russians were defeated and were rolled back in great
confusion, part of them to the west and part back-
wards on to the colliery plateau. Later on, in some
way not yet understood, Shimamura again got round
them, probably by taking advantage of the kaoh'ung,
and drove them clean off the field with hardly any loss
to his own gallant brigade.
I gather that neither the Russian infantry nor
Cossacks displayed on this occasion their usual tenacity.
The Headquarters Staff consider it a marvellous piece
of good fortune that, just where the threat was most
formidable, the instrument should have proved so
inferior. They believe these men of Orloff s are aU
reservists.
It is certainly curious that the Japanese, marching
for the first time into an intricate country, which the
Russians nevertheless should have at their finger-tips,
are able to surprise and out-manoeuvre their enemies
with so much apparent facility once they trust them-
selves out of their trenches.
So much for the danger to our right wing firom the
north, which has now been brushed away by the excel-
lent Shimamura, and indeed it was fully time, for
things have not been going by any means so brilliantly
here. The Japanese guns are silent, or very nearly so,
either because the enemy's artillery is too powerful for
them, or else because they are running dangerously
short of ammunition. Consequently, the Russian guns
are free to devote their entire attention to Manju-
yama, and it is being so pelted with shell that Okasaki
and his gallant Sendai lads will need all their constitu-
tional absence of nerves to enable them to stand their
ground much longer. Worse, the companies which
Manjuyama 109
reached the lowest knoll of 131 at 8 A.M., and which
afterwards succeeded in getting as far as the second or
penultimate point on the ridge, have now been fairly
rafaled off the mountain* It was about 4 p.m. when
they withdrew to Huaukufun village, having to a cer-
tainty lost very heavily,* and then we were all able to
see Russian reinforcements darting from one patch of
kaoliung to another, and coming over the northern
spur of the mountain in little thick mobs as if they
meant to attack Manjuyama from the south. The sight
woke up the Japanese guns and, by a spasmodic effort,
they steadied this advance with shrapnel, and then,
continuing their fire, drove it back over the spur or up
again towards the summit of the mountain.
I see so much, so quickly, that, by putting points one
after the other, like beads upon a string, I succeed only
too admirably, I feel, in turning the most marvellous
things any man has been so lucky as to see into a series
of unarresting, commonplace details. Now this repulse
of the Russians by shrapnel, when baldly stated, seems
almost meaningless, and yet if I could give even a dim
idea of what occurred no one would ever forget it.
First, hundreds of little grey mannikins swarming
forward over the spur of Mountain 131 ; next, the
thunder symphony played by all the Japanese cannon ;
last, the crowd convulsed, tossed about like autumn
leaves before the gale, imtil all the poor atoms were
blown back in heaps from whence they came. Imagine
a swarm of ants entering eagerly by an open door
until the housewife seizes her broom and sweeps
them out in tortured, struggling clusters ; remember
* Extract from next day's notes : — ^The 4th Regiment lost 270
men out of their detachment of 600 before they withdrew from
181 at 4 P.M. yesterday.
110 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
that these are no insects, but living human beings ;
and then perhaps some dim idea may be formed of one
small incident in the passion-play of to-day.
Having done so much, the guns quickly relapsed
into long periods of complete silence, punctuated by
brief intervals of very desultory and obviously feeble
fire. With good reason. The Russians have fifty or
sixty guns in action somewhere near Tatsurenko,"*^ as
well as forty guns firing hard from the neighbourhood
of Safutun. In addition, there is a battery and, worst
of all, three howitzers on Mountain 131, and another
battery concealed in the kaoliung some two miles due
north of Manjuyama.
The Headquarters Staff were in the gloomiest mood I
have yet seen them. It was not, as far as I can diag-
nose their feelings, because they fear they are in
imminent danger of being overwhelmed. I believe
their chief dread of positive disaster passed away with
the flight of Orloff before Shimamura.
It is rather rage and bitterness at feeling themselves
impotent, whilst they see in the far distance trains
puffing northwards, and great columns of troops and
transport moving towards Mukden behind the shield of
the two or three Divisions who are &cing us. They are
grieved also for the troops who are almost worn out,
and who are not able to cook their rice under the ter-
rible artillery fire.
Towards evening this fire increased to the maximum
compass of 100 quick-firing guns.
The Japanese artillery was dead silent.
I have no words left to convey an impression of the
fire of 100 quick-firers discharging their unlimited am-
munition at top speed. To chronicle that the guns
pealed faster and faster until the separate reports merge
* ChineBe, Talienkou (see Map XXII.).
Manjcttama 111
into one long-drawn roar ; to explain that the air seems
alive with bursting shell, or to speaJc of hurricanes ot
shrapnel and the whistling of their bullets, is hope-
lessly, miserably, tame, inadequate and paltry. I will
confine myself, then, to the matter-of-fact statement
that, if I were struck deaf and blind to-morrow, it
would be a consolation to me for the rest of my life
that I had heard and seen the great cannonade of
to-day.
At 6.30 P.M. things grew quieter, and, tired out
with my last sleepless night, I have returned here.
Kankuantun, September 2nd, 1904, 10 p.m. — All day
long the battle has raged, but with singularly little
material result beyond, I imagine, that each passing
hour sees hundreds perish for the Mikado or the Czar.
The relative positions of Russians and Japanese on
the north bank of the Taitsuho have hardly altered at
all since yesterday, and what I have to write up now
chiefly concerns the bloody, devilish combat which
raged for the best part of last night over that shell-
scourged, corpse-strewn monticule, Manjuyama.
Last night I slept profoundly till I was awakened at
3.30 A.M., and never heard a sound of the mortal con-
flict going on, only some four miles distant. But I
felt as soon as I got on my horse, and rode through
the village, that there was something in the air — that
some new dread, anger or weariness, had spread
through the dark hours.
Methought many of the soldiers crossing the pontoon
bridge from north to south looked at me with strange
glances, less friendly than usual I felt glad^ for once,
that I had an officer riding by my side.
Is this the product of my own over-strained imagi-
nation ? Partly, perhaps, but not entirely, I am sure.
The First Army is being strained to breaking-point,
112 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
and under that strain, although the officers are as
polite as ever, some of the men show signs — very
subtle signs, but still discernible to the object — ^that
they are not inclined to be too discriminating in draw-
ing a distinction between Kussians or any other
foreigners. " What a fantastic theory," some might
say, " to build up between the differences of a smile and
a scowl ! " Well, be it so, my friends. As an old
Highland officer used to say to my father, when he was
getting worsted, " I canna argue, but ye're wrang."
When I reached the Swallow's Nest fort I got no
invitation to come and hear the news; nor did I
have the opportunity of exchanging one syllable beyond
" Good morning " with the pre-occupied Headquarters
during my stay on the hill.
My first intimation of the events of the past night
came from a wounded soldier, who said he had left
Manjuyama with his bayonet wound some hours ago,
and that he could not say for the life of him whether
then or now it belonged to the Japanese or the
Russians.
The next was a statement made by another wounded
soldier, who declared that neither Russians nor
Japanese had retreated from Manjuyama, but that
the Japanese must certainly be still in possession, for
the Russians were all dead.
The next was from an Adjutant who said : " The
Second Division had a terrible time last night. If the
Russians had been able to maintain their grip on Manju-
yama, the whole of Major-General Nishi's command
(Second Division) would have been ruined. I would
like to see two more bridges built forthwith, and the
Guards brought over as quickly as possible."
Then I got something more authoritative from a
Manjuyama 113
person attached to the Staff, to whom I shall be for
ever grateful. Putting his information together with
the result of Vincent's talks with many non-commis-
sioned officers and private soldiers in Okasaki's brigade
yesterday evening and last nighty I find that no less
than five desperate assaults were made by the Bussians
on Manjuyama.
The first was in connection with the attempt I saw
being made from Mountain 131, when a battalion I
could not see attacked simultaneously firom Heyentai
with the bayonet.
The second was by two Russian battalions against
the left of the 30th Begiment ; an assault which was
so fierce and sustained that the brigade reserve had to
be called up before it could be repulsed.
The third occurred only a few minutes later, when
two more Bussian battalions attacked the 16th Begi-
ment, and actually made good the top of Manjuyama.
Eventually they were driven down again at the point
of the bayonet, but only fell back to a point about 100
yards beyond the bottom of the hill, whence they kept
up a very hot fire on the crest. Some brave Bussians
now crept up the western slope unobserved and flung
magnesium fire-balls on to the hill. The Japanese
trenches were thus rendered clearly visible, and the
enemy's fire became intolerably deadly. The men tried
to put out the lights by flinging stones at them, but
to no purpose. Then a soldier stepped forth from the
ranks in the good old Samurai style, calling out his
name and regiment, so that it was heard above even
the terrible din of the musketry, and quietly set about
extinguishing the fatal lights with the butt end of his
rifle. I have not yet got his name, but they say he was
not killed.
II H
114 A Staff Offigeb's Scbap-Book
The moon had not yet risen, and in the intense dark-
ness the opposing lines had become so intermingled that
it was not possible to tell friend from foe even by the
flash of the rifles. But dark as it was, it was evident
enough that the Russians were still full of flght, for
away to the west the band of a regiment on the march
was plainly audible, and nearer to Manjuyama another
battalion was loudly singing the National Anthem.
Seeing the urgent necessity of getting his men pro-
perly in hand before worse should befall, Okasaki told
his bugler to sound the cease Are. The order was unhesi-
tatingly obeyed by the whole of the Fifteenth Brigade,
although many of the officers and men felt that by doing
so the initiative was being surrendered, and a great
advantage being given to the enemy. So the Japanese
lay still under a grievous Are, and meanwhile Okasaki
and his officei's tried to pull together their broken and
disordered line, and flt it to stem the impending wave
of humanity which might, at any moment, sweep up
again out of the surrounding darkness.
It was at 10 P.M. that it came, breaking in Are and
smoke and steel full against the right of the 16th
BiOgiment. Once more the Russian scouts had crept
up in advance, but this time instead of flre-balls they
flung into the trenches numerous hand-grenades, the
size of oranges, which blew men's bodies to pieces.
Then came the bayonet charge heralded by a terrifying
shout, and it seemed as if all was lost, for the Japanese
were driven over the crest and-half* way down the
eastern slope of the hillock before they could make a
stand. But here the solid 16 th Begiment, aided by all
the available reserves, clung on desperately. Now
many a hero breathed his last amidst his fellows, as the
soldiers fought it out with their bayonets, the big men
^-^
-■^,jr-^
Manjutama 115
rushing furiously head down, the small men alert and
wary 9 never losing a chance. Half an hour the death
grapple endured, and then, once more, the Russians
fell back, leaving yet another 300 corpses strewn on
those fatal slopes.*
The last or fifth assault came on at 2 a.m. against
the 30th Regiment, and was more easily repulsed. But
old Colonel Baba saw behind the retiring lines of these
stormers another dark, slowly-creeping mass already
enveloping both flanks of the hill, and threatening, by
its mere momentiun, to carry away everything if once
it broke loose against his men. It was doubtful if the
defenders could stand another grand assault, and the
only chance seemed to be to anticipate the Russians
and to make a vigorous counter-charge before they
attempted to storm. All reserves were called up and,
led by the 30th Regiment, some six battalions of
Japanese were launched against the Russian left,
which broke, and the whole of their massive column
rolled back in disorder on Safutun.
If OrloflTs easy defeat yesterday inclined the Japanese
to depreciate their enemy, the fighting of last night
has again raised the Russian prestige far higher than
it has ever stood since the battle of the Talu on May
1st last. It is admitted on all hands that victory or
defeat hung evenly balanced in the scales during
several hours. Had it not been for the arrival of
Matsunaga's brigade,Manjuyama would have assuredly
been lost.t
* Indading the Colonel of the 128rd Regiment, and his hand-
some grey charger.
t The following is extracted from an entry made several weeks
later : — ^A junior but responsible Staff officer, having remarked to
me, ** We should never have repcdsed the enemy had not Matsu-
naga's brigade arrived by then. If we had not had the help of
mr'
116 A Staff Offtcbb's Sorjlp-Book
It is curious how the tacit consent of either side has
frequently bestowed upon some obscure corner of a
battlefield an importance which no one could well have
foreseen, or is even able entirely to explain afterwards
in the light of actual events. Mountain 131 and
Gochosan were obviously vital tactical points, but who
would have suspected that an insignificant, turtle-
backed hillock like Manjuyama,* was to be a scene
of such carnage, and the turning-point perhaps of an
historic battle. Certainly the Bussians with Manju-
yama in their possession could have brought up their
guns on to the col which joins it to Mountain 131, and
thence have supported a fiirther advance of their in-
fantry by direct fire at medium range, instead of by
indirect fire at long range. But although such a con-
sideration might present itself invitingly to the student
of the map, it is in actuality very greatly discounted by
the kaoliung, which conceals the movements of infantry
and cavalry across the plain as well as a moonless night,
and renders artillery action of any sort very much a
matter of chance.
The same drawback lessens the value of Maniuyama
as an infantry position. Had the harvest been gathered,
Matsunaga's Brigade, I think myself the fight might have had a
dififerent ending." I felt rather puzzled, as Major-General Okasaki
had personally told Captain Vincent that Matsunaga had not been
engaged at all on the night of the 2nd~8rd of September. I, there-
f ore, begged the highest available authority to be kind- enough to
explain to me the true state of the case. He said : *' Matsunaga
did not fire a shot, but his arrival as a reserve to the Divisional
General enabled him to send every man of Okasaki's into the firing
ine instead of keeping some of them in hand under his own orders."
— I. H.
* About 75 feet high, 800 yards long, and 20 yards broad on the
top. — ^I. H.
Manjuyama 117
this hillock would have afforded a very fine field ot
fire. With the crops standing there is no field of fire,
for it is obviously impossible that any one can see from
the top of Manjuyama more than a very few yards
beyond the foot of the slope. What then is the value
of a field of fire when the objective cannot be located
even approximately ? Per contra^ any one who chooses
to climb Manjuyama becomes instantly visible from
any rising ground over the whole battlefield. I believe
it is this very conspicuous visibility of the Rice Cake
Hill which is causing both sides to concentrate their
efforts upon it. Companies, Russian or Japanese, when
launched out into the bewildering sea of kaoliung,
instinctively converge upon Manjuyama as moths fly
towards a candle, and many of them with the same
results. Something more or less similar took place at
the battle of Fredericksburg, when, on December 13th,
1862, Burnside seemed deliberately to select Marye's
HUl as a suitable point upon which to hurl division
after division to its destruction. Presmning the
commander to have been sane, there is no possible
explanation for such a negation of all the rudiments of
tactics, except that the fatal hill stood out conspicu-
ously and arrested the attention of a brain which was,
for the moment, incapable of cool reflection. It is my
firm belief that, in the present instance, the Russians
would do much better to leave their montecule alone
and content themselves with holding its Japanese
defenders by a little gentle skirmishing.
From Manjuyama to Gochosan is a distance of
2^ miles, the whole of it thickly covered with giant
crops. This gap between Okasaki and Shimamura is
filled by three of Eigoshi's battalions — ^all he has to
spare, as one of his two raiments has been sucked
118 A Staff Offiosb's Scrap-Book
into the maelstrom of the Manjujama struggle. One
battalion per mile ; that is rather -weak ! Had any of
the Russian attacks, which fell with such sledge-hammer
violence upon the entrenchments of Manjuyama, been
piloted by capable officers through the dense kaoliung
half a mile or so further north they must inevitably
have pierced the defensive line, and even now, to-night,
if they will only push boldly in anywhere between
Manjuyama and Gochosan they should smash right
through, at least, in the first instance. In that case,
Okasaki at Manjuyama will have Mountain 181 on
his left flank and a force of Russians marching and
fighting in rear of his right flank under cover of the
kaoliung. I think he must in that case fall back, and
Shimamura, too, would begin to feel isolated at the
Yentai coal-mines, so fistr away from the pontoon bridge.
The Guards could make nothing of Mountain 151,
as was to be expected, seeing that the Russians were
in a practically impregnable position, and that Okasaki
could not take Mountain 131.
These poor Guards are always getting very hard
nuts to crack. I believe they have spent the best
part of the day lying on the south bank of the unford-
able Taitsuho, being fired at from 151, without making
any serious attempt to cross, by which inaction, I think,
they show their wisdom, considering the artillery and
other conditions prevailing at present. Meanwhile,
an order went to them two hours ago, telling them to
leave a brigade of artillery and its escort at Shobyoshi>
so as to deter the enemy from vacating Mountain 151,
either to reinforce another part of the field or to take
the offensive, whilst with their main force they march
round first east, then north, to join Headquarters at
Kankuantun.
"T 5^ . . KM , »M_ , .F' - . ^r"^S8f"^PF'?^i^«^P
W
Manjtttama 119
On the whole, neither Guards nor Second Division
have been able to do more to-day than to maintain
their ground. The only important movement made
by the First Army has been carried out by Umezawa
with his mixed brigade. On August 30th he had
received orders to capture Penchiho, and then to move
westwards, to join hands with the Twelfth Division
to the north of the Taitsuho. In pursuance of these
instructions, Umezawa captured Penchiho at daybreak
on August 31st. On September 1st, he received more
definite orders, telling him he was to march acrass the
mountains and endeavour to surprise Orloff in the
vicinity of the Yentai coal mines. Accordingly, he
moved north-west of Penchiho on the 2nd instant, and
was on the point of marching definitely west for the
colliery hills when he heard that a fresh force of
Russians had appeared to be north of Pingtaitsu.
Bold as he is said to be, Umezawa could not afford
to march off the ground leaving an enemy in the
act of descending upon his communications, and so
he had to retrace his steps and attack. The result
was a brilliant little victory, and the retreat of the
Russians to the northwards {see Map XXXV.).
Umezawa has now been able to carry out his orders,
and joined Shimamura at the coal mines at 1 p.m.
to-day (September 3rd), having left two battalions
and two guns at Pingtaitsu to contain the defeated
Russians.
Before I close my record of the great events of the
past twenty-four hours, I must note^a remark made
to me to-day, on the Swallow's Nest hill, by a
civilian of sorts, who has a brother commanding a
battalion of the 12th Regiment. He said, '^I fear
we have no genius for commerce. Our only method
120 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
of getting on in the world will be to go continually to
war and exact very heavy indemnities as the price of
peace." Captain Okada, who overheard him, went for
him thus : " That is a very bad sentiment of yours-
Mr. 1 If Japanese say such things, no wonder
that a yellow peril theory finds ready acceptance-
You assure a foreigner that we Japanese must sell our
blood for money, but I assure him that such a thing
no true Japanese would ever do ! ''
Mr. then became abashed and remained silent.
Midnight. — We are next door to Headquarters in the
village, and going out just now for a minute before
turning in I knocked up against young , who has
given me an interesting postscript wherewith to round
up my record of this eventful day.
It seems hardly credible, but the First Army has been
entirely cut off from all communication with Oy ama and
the Second and Fourth Armies from yesterday night
until a few minutes ago. The wires were cut, as it was
only natural to suppose they would be cut, and then
the Japanese armies, separated by only twenty miles
of mountainous country, were unable, although it
was a brilliant sunny day, to talk to one another.
Here the much abused British army may take comfort
and realise how all its past thirty years promiscuous
fighting has not been time so entirely wasted as some of
its critics would like it to suppose ! There is nothing
more trying to the nerves than isolation, and the cut
wires go far to explain the unmistakable tension
which existed during the day on the summit of the
Swallow's Nest hill.
Now a few minutes ago communications were
restored, and Headquarters have just heard that the
Second and Fourth Armies have not been able to occupy
Manjuyama 121
all the defences on the south side ox the river until
5 P.M. this evening.
i^oor General Euroki 1 Owing to the breakdown in
the signalling arrangements and the consequent
severance of communications, he had to act upon
instructions many hours old. These had been his
warranty for believing that the other armies would
reach the river by the evening of the 2nd, and now it
turns out that they will barely have reached it by the
evening of the 3rd.
This is rough on the First Army, which has shed
its blood too freely in the firm belief that it was lagging
behind in the great pursuit, and could not comprehend
why, when pressing on to cut off the enemy's retreat,
it should have found itself so suddenly on the very brink
of destruction. A dozen British soldiers with a couple
of heliographs would to-day have saved the Japanese
many hundreds of lives that were wasted in attempting
the impossible.
CHAPTER XXV
LIAOTANQ
Kankuantun, September Ath^ 1904. — Heavy smoke
this morning, which came drifting over from the Liao-
yang direction and mingled with the river-mist until it
produced a very colourable imitation of a London fog.
Headquarters were delightfully cordial and forth-
coming to me to-day, and did their best to supplement
my news gleanings of yesterday. I found that I had
already got my facts fairly well arranged, the gist of
what I now heard being as follows :
** If we had advanced yesterday, the enemy could
have enveloped us with four times our strength. It is
very lucky indeed that Kuropatkin did not come and
develop a great attack upon us with superior force at
any time since the day before yesterday. On the
evening of the 31st we intended to play with the
enemy until, by getting Matsunaga over from the
Guards^ the Second and Twelfth Divisions should be
complete. We then meant to leave a screen against the
Mountain 131 whilst we pushed straight against the
enemy's front for the railway, vitJ Heyentai and Safutun.
When, however, we learnt that Orloff with nearly
a whole Division was in a position to operate agatinst
our right flank from the coal mines, we became stricken
with paralysis, as it was altogether too risky an opera-
tion for any commander to push his force into a hole
LlAOTANO 12S
leaving the enemy in superior force on both his wings.
Thus our General felt himself most disagreeably em-
barrassed all day yesterday.
" Beyond all doubt the Russians have had twelve or
thirteen Divisions available to crush us had they felt
fully determined to do so. But they have shown a
great deal of vacillation, and until now our good luck
has certainly been almost past belief. I suppose Euro-
patkin still thinks we have six Divisions. Five minutes
ago" (1.45 P.M.) ^'Marshal Kuroki received a report
from the Second Division saying that they had occupied
Mountain 131, which will enable us to pivot round with
131 as ^ point cPappui for our left, and who knows but
that we may yet succeed in cutting off some of the
Bussians. I must now go, but before you close that
favourite companion of yours, just write down in it for
thought in future jears that, on September 1st, Nishi*
had only the 16th and 30th Begiments with him. In
the afternoon came the 29th Begiment, and then on
the evening of September 2nd Matsunaga arrived
with the 4th Begiment. f Each reinforcement appeared
upon the scene only just in the very nick of time to
save us, so if ever in days to come you wish to teach
troops the imperative necessity of doing whatever they
have to do, whether it be marching or fighting, with
all the energy and cdl the force at their command, you
can tell them the touch-and-go story of little Bice-cake
hill and preach the moral afterwards as much as you
like. The text is good, whether you take it from the
Bussian point or our own.
* Lieutenant-General Nishi, oommanding the Second Division.
t This does not quite correspond with my own conclusions as given
previously, but the Japanese staff officer's statement had better be
accepted as accurate.
124 A Staff Officbr's Sceap-Book
"Yesterday, and the day before yesterday, the
General Staff had no appetites. But although it may
be that we shall all be accounted failures, yet I feel very
certain that our attacks, and the bold face we have put
upon the situation, since we first began to get into
difficulties on September 2nd, are the true causes
which have forced the enemy's troops on the south
bank of the Taitsuho to pass over to the north bank,
whereby the Second and Fourth Armies have captured
the forts of Liaoyang. Thus the rdle of our army has
been fiilfiUed, at least to the extent of one half.
" One more word, lest you begin to think of me
only as a lecturer on solemn matters. Yesterday a
military coolie had been taking rations to Manju-
yama and was picking his way back under such a
heavy fire as even great warriors do not often hope to
encounter. At last a shell burst just at his feet,
covering him with dirt, but, by some strange accident,
leaving him uninjured. Instantly he stooped down,
and picking up a stone flung it into the smoke,
crying out, * There, you devil — ^take that ! ' "
I saw but little more of interest from my perch on the
Swallow's Nest. The Second Brigade of Guards under
Watanabe joined Headquarters at mid-day. The fire of
the enemy was rapidly dying out, a battery near
Safutun being left almost alone in its activity. More-
over, the evacuation of 131 could only bear one inter-
pretation, and accordingly the General issued these
orders at 2 p.m. :
"The First Army will now pursue. The Second
Division will advance to Lotatai. The Twelfth Divi-
sion will get into touch with the right of the Second
Division and will march on Sandoha, leaving a portion
of their force to occupy the coal mines and to keep a
LlAOTANG 125
look out for the enemy north of them. Major-General
Watanabe, with his Brigade of Guards and the 29th
Kobi, will take up a position at Heyentai and hold fast
there as a general reserve. The commander of the
army will also go to Heyentai."
A messenger was sent to Asada and the First
Brigade of Guards, who were marching round by
Amping, to aquaint them with the commander's
intentions. At 5.10 p.m. news came to hand that the
Second and Fourth Armies had at last occupied all the
enemy's positions south of the river Taitsuho. The
commander of the Guards Cavalry also sent in about
this time to say that, as the enemy had now evacuated
151, he had made good the low ground between 131
and that mountain. As all the dominating features of
the battlefield were now in Kuroki's hands, he decided
to spare the Asada Brigade of Guards a forced march
and sent them permiasion to halt the night at Amping.
Before dark, Umezawa from the coal-mines reached
Sanchatsu (Map XXIII.), where he is now ensasnng
the enemy^ rear-guard, consisting of an i^^
brigade and two batteries. *
In a temple juLSt below Manjuymna^ September 5 th,
1904. — I seize the propitious moment of a half-way
halt to write up this insatiable note-book. Started at
4 A.M. and marched through Huankufun towards
Manjuyama. Much delayed by transport along the
roads and on the pontoon bridge. Had a talk with a
wounded soldier in the village whilst was making
* The hostile forces got into contact at 8 p.m. and carried on a
sniping and skirmishing contest until past midnight, no particular
damage being done to either side. For the closing scenes of the
pursuit and a few simple comments on the battle, see pp. 128 to 140.
^I.H.
^ L ' mim^
126 A Staff Offiobe's Scrap-Book
inquiries as to Kuroki's whereabouts. He said the
men all loved the war, and cared nothing for hunger or
fatigue where the renown and authority of the Emperor
were concerned. When they were wounded or sick
they had only one wish, and that was to be allowed
to rejoin their companies. He also told me that the
Russians had stretched an enchanted wire in front of
Manjuyama, and that if any Japanese soldier was
unlucky enough to touch it his head flew off his
shoulders that very second. His remarks might appear
bombastic or high falutin to any one who did not hear
them, but as a matter of fact they were spoken quite
simply and with matter-of-fact conviction from the
heart.
About 9 A.M. it began to rain heavily — a regular
thunder plimip. We rode for refuge to this temple
just short of the eastern slope of Manjuyama, and
here we have found Kuroki and the General Staff
forming a somewhat remarkable group.
'' My tables — meet it is I set it down."
In the temple are figures of Buddha and his dis-
ciples, whose fine serenity contrasts with the fevered
energy of the mortals at their feet. One of the
disciples is serving as a peg from which hangs Prince
Kuni's dripping waterproof. General Kuroki is seated
between His Imperial Highness and Major-General
Watanabe, commanding the Second Brigade of Guards,
on the one side and Buddha himself on the other. A
couple of planks fixed up between the Buddha throne
and a chair have been made to serve as a rude table.
Across these planks is laid a map, upon which Colonel
Matsuishi, vice-chief of the General Staff, and a young
assistant, are busy with pencil and india-rubber enter-
BWT"
LlAOYANG 127
ing the positions of our troops at the moment. Now
a senior Staff Officer advances from the background
and squatting, down upon his heels, Indian fashion,
explains the situation on the map and discusses it,
eagerly, with Kuroki and General Watanabe, both of
whom put on spectacles to see more clearly. They
say nothing and the Staff Officer says a great deal.
Occasionally Kuroki punctuates a pause when the
lecturer stops for want of breath by an approving nod.
It is now 9.30 and I feel rather sad as they have told
me nothing yet. They look fairly happy, but not
exactly radiant or triumphant either. I hear guns in
the distance firing very steady and slow ; I should
imagine some 9 or 10 miles distant. So soon as
the sun comes out I ought to see something from
Manjuyama.
Safutun^ evening. — I saw nothing from Manjuyama,
but I saw too much upon it. All along the crest were
Japanese trenches. No corpses ; only many stains and
shapes of clotted blood which even the thunderstorm
had not been able to wash away. But when I stepped
forward and viewed the western declivity my heart
for a moment stood still with horror. Never have I
seen such a scene. Such a mad jumble of arms and
accoutrements mingled with the bodies of those who so
lately bore them, arrested, cut short in the fury of
their assault, and now, for all their terrible, menacing
attitudes so very, very quiet. How silent ; how
ghastly ; how lonely seemed this charnel house where
I, a solitary European, beheld rank upon rank of brave
Russians mown down by the embattled ranks of Asia.
A stone pillar on the crest of the plateau was simply
plastered with lead, and Vincent, whom I met shortly
afterwards, told me that he had learnt from a Japanese
iTT^lBT?w «|iJi ■ H^
128 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
soldier that throughout the night of the 2nd it had
been mistaken for ^* some brave Bussian." Marching
on towards the west, we found the roads almost knee
deep in sticky mud in which, like flies in jam, several
batteries of Japanese artillery were feebly struggling.
Another instance, if, indeed, one were wanted, of how
seriously the Japanese gun is under-horsed, notwith-
standing its lightness. All the infantry had to march
along a narrow slippery raised path to the right of this
quagmire. About a mile beyond Manjuyama, I came
upon a dead Bussian soldier lying right across the path,
holding his cap in his hand. Thousands must have
stepped over his body, but no one had yet found leisure
to bury him. He was a very handsome boy of about
twenty ; singularly dark, and on his face was a slight
smile as if he was dreaming some happy dream.
Fenshan village {three miles north-east o/Liaoyang).
September Gth^ 1904. — Started to march here at 8 a.m.
A bright, glorious morning, and so fresh as to be
almost cold. After walking some four miles I drew up
at a little clump of pine-trees about fifty yards to one
side of the road. Shortly afterwards the Headquarters
Staff rode by, and an important personage seeing me,
left the cortege and came out to pass the time of day.
I asked him if he was pleased. He thought for some
time before he answered, and then said, " d mmtie" At
this moment my little fox terrier, which now answers
to the name of Booski, began to chase a goat, and in
the confusion another officer took the opportunity to
whisper to me, ** Un tiers seidem£nt" After Booski
had been reprimanded, my friend resumed :
^'The enemy commenced his real retreat on the
night of the 3rd. To bring off un grand coup we
must have attacked and forced our way through the
»w m ' ^^av<^^w^MW>^VM^w*aiVNBiVHPMMBqpipK:^
LlAOYANG 1 29
Bussian flank guard during daylight on the 2nd. We
took the mamelon Manjujama on the night lst-2ndy
but when it came to the continuation of our westerly
moyement next morning we found ourselves badly in
want of the help of our Division of Guards. So great an
enterprise demands careful preparation in advance, and
we were not ready. Moreover, Marshal Oyama was
already inclined to think that our First Army had been
too venturesome and had sent us positive orders that
we must be careful not to commit ourselves too far. By
September 3rd the opportunity had passed, as we were
then faced by a very superior force.'*
I was then asked if I had been given any account
of the progress of the pursuit since the issue of the
orders by Kuroki at 2 p.m. on September 4th.* I
replied that I was sure the women and children in
London knew more of what was going on than I did,
inarching along in the kaoliung, devoured by curiosity,
And only supporting my ignorance by the persistence
of my hopes of obtaining some such windfall as an
interview with some officers of high degree. At this
he seepied well pleased, and getting out his note-book
spoke as follows: "Well, the fact is, the Divisions found
themselves unable to cany out the orders we issued
to them at 2 p.m. on the 4th instant. The Divisional
Generals received them before 3 o'clock in the afternoon,
but neither did the Second Division advance to Lotatai,
nor did the Twelfth Division get into touch with the
right of the Second Division nor march upon Sandoha.
Not at once, that is to say. Not as had been intended.
The Second Division did not begin its march until
almost dusk. Both brigades lost their way in the
kaoliung, and, after struggling in vain for some time
* See p. 124.
11 I
130 A Staff Officbb's Scrap-Book
to make head against their difficulties, lay down
where they were to await the morning light, having
covered some two or three miles only instead of the
six which was expected of them. The Twelfth
Division did not commence its advance until after
10 P.M. and soon took the village of Sho-Tatsurenko,*
{See Map XXIL)
''To avoid the kaoliung the subsequent advance
was made along the raised embankment of the railway,
by following which they hoped to arrive at Sandoha,
their objective. Hardly had they progressed a mile,
however, when they were charged into, full tilt, by a
Bussian colunm, which came tearing down the embank-
ment with loud cheers. No one has been able to
give me any just idea of subsequent events.
Apparently, the Bussians fought furiously, although
without much discrimination. Through the kaoliung,
at random, companies rushed about wildly with their
bayonets at the charge. On the Japanese side also
there was much conftision and some loss, and the
advance was entirely arrested, t By daybreak the
Bussians had withdrawn, and without cavalry our
* Ohinese, Hsiao Talienkou«
t Extract from an entry made on September 18th: "Oaptain
Jardine, who was with this brigade, tells me that whenever one side
charged the other side always charged to meet them. To a listener
the effect was extraordinary. A hot musketry fight might be in
progi'ess, when suddenly the Bussians would sound the charge.
Instantly all firing would cease on either side, the Japanese cheering
wildly in answer to the drums and bugles of the enemy. The
Russian cheer * Hoorah ! ' the Japanese, on such desperate occasions,
cheer ' Wa-a-a 1 ' The impression given by these cheers, mingling
with the rattle of the drums and the clangour of the bugles, was
more melancholy than miqi^ial, sounding like a prolonged wail of grief
ascending from the troubled earth up into the dark heavens." — ^
\
Llaoyang 131
Twelfth Division had no longer any chance of bringing
them to book.
** Yesterday, Umezawa with his mixed brigade
advanced from his position immediately north of the
Twelfth Division as far as a line facing north-west
through Sankwaisekisan"*^ (see Map XXIII. or XXXIII.).
Here he was engaged by a regiment of infantry, a
regiment of lancers, and two batteries. He was not
able to make much impression on the enemy. He may
still be fighting and may do some good ; but I fear not.
The battle, in fact, is over, and the First Army has not
captured many prisoners or guns.t
^'It is these self-same guns which have made it too
difficult. Also I must say the Bussians made a fine re-
tirement. They did not run. away in too great haste,
I assure you. There was no disorder, and every mile
or two they halted and re-formed their ranks, and then
continued the retirement in echelon, moving from one
point of vantage to another.
** However, from the fact that the enemy did not
conmience his retreat until the Srd, it is plain that he
fell back simply because he was beaten. If Kuropatkin
had merely meant from the first to fight a delaying
action, he would have had all his arrangements
organised to that end, and would certainly have started
sooner. It seems, then, probable that, if the Fourth Army
had not taken the great redoubt and pierced theBussian
line to the SQuth of the Taitsuho, Kuropatkin would
have massed troops against us and attacked us in over-
whelming force on the north side of the river. Equally
probable is it that, if we had not stormed and held
Manjuyama, Kuropatkin would have sent another
* Ohinese, Sankuaishishan or *< Three Great Rock Hilj.''
_ t The Vixst Army captui^dt no gunai.
132 A Staff Offi(3br's Scrap-Book
Diviaion south of the river and have assumed the offen-
sive against Oyama. But as the Japanese were
successful and equally threatening on both sides of
the river, all movement was paralysed except that of
retreat"
Having spent a whole delightful hour, extravagant
to himself but profitable to me, the great man gave his
bridle rein a shake and disappeared, whilst I followed
myself more slowly, congratulating myself upon the
fountain of knowledge I had so opportunely struck.
There is scope for a fiett volume on the battle of Liao-
yang, and although my stock of indelible pencils will
not carry me veiy far. in that direction, I feel I ought
to make an effort to sketch in, however lightly, some
of my general impressions*
The first point which strikes me is the clear, simple,
e^nd direct character of the Japanese strategy, carried
out though it has been on a grandiose scale. I think
it is Clausewitz who says that in war everything is
simple, but the simple is the most difficult. The Man-
ohurian campaign will probably be quoted hereafter as
101 instance in point. I believe that Liaoyang was
selected as the point of concentration for the three
armies from the very outset of the campaign, and that
all arrangements throughout were subservient to the
end of doing precisely what we have just attempted to
do here. True, no scheme of strategy can ever be in-
dependent of the actions of the enemy, and several
times since the battle of the Talu it has seemed likely
that modifications would have to be introduced. Only
a few weeks ago our Headquarters thought the battle
might be fought at Kaiping. A fortnight ago, giving
Kuropatkin credit for a skilful use of his chances, they
were sure Oyama would have to fight at Anshantien,
ii'-i
a s'
ill
•
I
LlAOYANG 133
and the First Army at Amping. Only after August
26th did they dare permit themselves to hope that the
great event would, after all, take place at the pre-
destined spot.
But variations such as these do not affect the general
spirit of the scheme, which was that the three armies
should keep quite distinct, on separate bases and lines
of communication, advancing slowly and methodically
in strict combination, preserving approximately equal
distance from Kuropatkin's headquarters, but drawing
nearer and nearer to one another as they approached
him, so that, at last, on the actual battlefield, wherever
that might be, they should find themselves clasping one
another's hands in a semi-circle round the enemy*
Here we find reminiscences of the scheme of the Prus*
sians which led up to Koniggr&tz, especially in the fact
that, in either case, concentration before entering upon
the tactical area was practically impossible for geogra-
phical reasons. ''^ It is natural enough that the Japanese
should have copied Yon Moltke's method of concentra-
tion on the battlefield as they are essentially German-
taught strategists. In comparing the two schemes,
however, it must be remembered that things ai-e not
quite as they were thirty-eight years ago. Strategi-
cally, no doubt, the dangers and advantages of such
a plan remain substantially unmodified, but tactically
the prizes of a successful concentration are greater
whilst its realisation is more difficult. The reason the
prizes are greater is that, with magazine rifles, smoke-
* Yon Moltke, however, had reasonable grounds for believing that
with his more rapid mobilisation be could oonoentrate the Prussian
Army in the enemy's country before the latter could interfere. This
scheme was nullified by the King, who, for political reasons, arrested
the advance after the strategical deployment had been completed.
i
^^'^^^'"''^"••^
134 A Staff Officer's Scbap-Book
less powders, and an artillery which carries five or six
miles, an army half surrounded, even if only by an equal
force, finds itself at a great disadvantage. A mass is
no longer able to break through a thin line as used to
be the case when weapons only carried a few hundred
yards, and an attack against an enveloping force can,
owing to the very long range of firearms, be received
by a flanking fire wherever it endeavours to push
against the concave formations of troops which have
advanced from dispersed bases.
The reason the difficulties of realising such a scheme
are greater than they used to be is, again, because of
modem armaments, which facilitate the holding of a
strong force, for a time, by a much weaker force. Thus,
if the commander of the concentrated army has pre-
vision and quickness to take the situation in time, it is
easier for him than it used to be to delay, and hold off
at arm's length one portion of the converging armies
with a comparatively weak force, suitably disposed in
an entrenched position, whilst he vigorously employs
the great bulk of his troops to overwhelm the other
portions. In old days this game could be played on an
area of a few square miles, i.e., on the battlefield itself,
but now guns and rifles carry so far that action should
be taken at an earlier stage, and the effort should be
made when the converging forces are at least twenty
miles from one another.
From this point of view, Kuropatkin should, at all
costs, have hung on to Anshantien with a strong delay-
ing force whilst bringing all the troops he could muster,
including his reserves, up to the right bank of the
Tangho on the 26th to stake victory or defeat on the
issue in that part of the field.
It may plausibly be objected that Oyama would in
LlAOYANG 135
such case have found out what was happening, and
would have rushed Liaoyang hefore Kuropatkin could
get back after repulsmg Kuroki, But this is just my
point ; defences such as those of Anshantien cannot be
rushed nowadays in five minutes, even by superior
numbers.* If no other example were available, that of
Kuroki's helplessness to break through the Bussian
rear-guard on September 4th, although he saw his
enemy slipping away to the northward, would be fairly
conclusive. Moreover, Liaoyang would not have been
at the mercy of a successful assailant of Anshantien.
After those defences came the outer Liaoyang position,
then the inner circle of forts, and when the city itself
should fall, was there not the great Taitsuho flowing
deep and strong just to the north of it with all its
bridges in Bussian hands ?
Some may think it would have been preferable to
have reversed the process, and to have delayed Kuroki
whilst fighting the battle of the war at Anshantien,
which would then have culminated in a tremendous
counter-attack against Oyama. I do not agree ; but
this is a matter of opinion. The remarkable point for
consideration is that it appears doubtfiil if Kuropatkin
ever fairly faced the problem. Certainly no one here can
say whether he intended to hold Kuroki and defeat
Oyama, or to hold Oyama and defeat KurokL Lideed,
difficult as it is to believe such a thing, it almost seems as
if Kuropatkin had failed to grasp the full significance
of the Japanese strategical scheme, although its general
course, together with the final tactical envelopment,
stood up like a live creature out of the map. Other-
wise how is it possible to account for the fact that
Mountain 131, Manjuyama, Gochosan, andtheTentai
* See note on p. 144.
136 A Staff Officbr's Scrap-Book
colliery hills were not, to some extent at least, pre-
viously prepared for defence.
One six-inch gun on the top of Mountain 181 would
have altered the whole course of the battle on the
northern bank of the Taitsuho. Two shells would have
driven Kuroki and his staflf from the very convenient
Swallow's Nest hill. The pontoon bridge would have
been in jeopardy. The Second Division Field Artillery
would have been completely exposed, and the troops
entrenched on Manjuyama would have felt a succes-
sion of lOOlb. high explosive shells fired at that distance
and angle almost unbearable. Even the Japanese
mountain guns which fired with such effect from the
southern side of the crest of (jochosan would have been
taken in reverse and easily driven into the kaoliung by
a six-inch cannon on 131. I do not presume to say the
Bussians should have profited by the experiences of the
British army. But why not accept a lesson from the
humble Boers? Bulwana was just as difficult a
mountain to haul a big gun on to as 131 ; Lydenberg
and Laing's Nek far more difficult. Two thousand men
will make a cannon climb like a chamois, and if it is lost
after it has done its business — why — what matter?
Oannon are not keepsakes, but killing machines.
Still more surprising to me is the inexplicable failure
of the Bussians to oppose the crossing of the Twelfth
Division at Lentowan. Surely no better opportunity
has ever offered itself for the employment of a force such
as the Cossacks are supposed to be. We have actually
adopted the words Cossdch post into our official
military phraseology, so excellent do we consider the
Cossack theory of watching and guarding a line of
country. Under the most elementary system, there
should have been no difficulty in obtaining information
LlAOYAKO 137
of the Japanese crossing the moment it hegan ; indeed
I have it on sure authority that the movement was not
conducted with any exceptional secrecy or silence.
Once the alarm was given, the mounted troops are not
worth their salt who could not, before morning, have
been swarming in the hills to the east of the river from
whence, although they might not have been able to
arrest the progress of the Division, they could most
certainly have very seriously harassed and delayed its
advance.
The conception actually entertained by Kuro-
patkin must remain obscure until reports are received
from the Bussian side, but it certainly appears as if
he merely cherished the barren intention of putting a
sufficient force at Amping and Anshantien to repulse
the attacks of Kuroki and Oyama* But conceptions
should be based on the principle of smashing the
enemy. A wise Grovernment will forgive even failure
to the general who suffered defeat from the vault-
ing ambition of his plans. But the general who
waits on events, endeavouring to be safe everywhere,
preferring to lose a chance rather than run an
avoidable risk, is only a good general from the enemy's
point of view.
When Kuroki had a success on August 28 th, and
made good on the 27th the right bank of the Tangbo,
Kuropatkin began to lose his calmness. Obviously he
had visions of the First Army making a forced march
behind him into Liaoyang. Instead of sending back
merely a Division to steady Kuroki whilst he himself
gave Oyama battle at Anshantien, he retired the whole
of his troops, who could not have been improved by
the process, and bundled them up within a radius of
four or five miles from Liaoyang. He thus encouraged
138 A Staff Officer's Sgrap-Book
the Japanese to an extraordinary extent (a fact I can
personally vouch for) and enabled them to realise their
long-planned, greatly hoped for, tactical concentration.
The battle was now more than three parts won by
Oyama, but even at this stage a stroke of good fortune
put a great chance again into Kuropatkin's hands. The
Taitsuho rose in flood, denying its north bank absolutely
to the Second and Fourth Annies, and hindering the
tactical concentration which had appeared for a moment
to be achieved. One Bussian Division with some
brigades of artillery and Cossacks to patrol the banks
would have been sufficient to hold Oyama in check for
the moment. The balance of the vast army was available
to fling upon the top of Kuroki. It is improbable that
the coming century will produce a crisis so deeply
fraught with fate. Would the Bussians merely use the
swollen river as a means of escape, as Moore used the
Esla during his retreat to Corunna, or, would they
seize the goods the Gods had sent them and make the
river a pivot of manoeuvre for a great counter-stroke
against the First Army ? For one terrible moment it
did seem as if Kuropatkin was actually going to put
his fortune to the test and let the Bussian soldiers
have a real good fight — no piecemeal encounters ; no
botUed-up reserves, but every man in the firing line,
like Kuroki on July 31st or August 26th. But no :
just as the fate of Empires was trembling in the
balance, there began that retreat on Mukden which
took the heart out of the Bussians who were stiU
holding their ground and renewed all the energy of
the exhausted Japanese. The Commanders of the
First Army played their part here whole-heartedly ; —
tooth and nail, no reserves— every officer and man
fighting like a wild cat. The Bussian Commander
LlAOYANG 139
never flung his whole army into the business con
amore^ as Skoboleff I am sure would have done, in
the true adventurous neck or nothing style.
I began with the strategy ; I will end with the
tactica The Japanese tactics realised the true ideal
of employing every single man (except the cavalry),
and of carrying out the general idea in accordance
with the probabilities, careless of minor risks or defeats.
The Japanese leaders fought throughout on the lines
of Napoleon's maxim that the moral is as to the physical
as three to one. The Bussian leaders acted differently.
Tolstoi says the army is everything ; the generals are
nothing. Napoleon affirms that in war it is the man
who is wanted; not men. Into such company my
own small opinion dares not intrude itself.
A Bussian private has in him the proper soldier's
stuff; give him something clear, simple, and definite
to fight for, and his dead bear witness how resolutely
he can make the assault. But, by messing troops
about (a heart-breaking process, for which our own
men have an explicit but quite unmentionable expres-
sion), by withdrawing them prematurely and hiu*riedly
fi*om elaborate defences ; then yielding the battlefield
on account of the loss of one or two non- vital positions ;
it is easy to turn an army of heroes into an army of hares.
I think it is an infinite credit to the Bussian privates
that they seem to have, to a great extent, resisted the
demoralising tactics of their leaders. Not that I mean
to try and gauge the weight of the importance of the
part played by moral in our last battle. I had as lief
attempt to prove that a bishop was a better form of
national investment than a battleship. But it will be
generally accepted that the Japanese armies after the
events of the past month must have had some advan-
140 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
tage here, and the more I think the more certain am I
that it was not strategy or tactics, or armament or
information, which won the battle of Liaoyang for
Oyama, but that it was rather the souls of the
Japanese troops which triumphed over the less
developed, less awakened, less stimulated, spiritual
qualities of the Russians.
Let no Briton, however, presume to think that the
Bussians will not learn a vast deal nationally as well
as militarily, by this war, or that they will necessarily
in their next Jmpaign display the same want of bril-
liancy and determination in their highest ranks or of
manoBuvring and shooting power in the lowest. Manju-
yama has convinced the Japanese Army that the
hearts of the Bussian soldiers are in the right place.
This is the great thing. The need of intelligence and
of higher individual training must have been driven
into the consciousness of the Bussian Army by its
sanguinary defeats, and in the ranks, even now, there
is no lack of powers of endurance or of moral strength.
Bussia will survive Manchuria. An empire whose
soldiers can die as the Bussian privates died at Manju-
yama is "no deid yet^' as a 92nd Highlander private
inscribed upon the tombstone of his battalion which
had been buried in effigy on the sad day when, in 1881,
the War Minister then reigning murdered its ancient
and honourable number.
10.30 P.M. — ^A man of the Guards cavalry has just
come in with a message to say that my baggage- cart
and baggage have been destroyed by a Bussian shell,
which killed three men of the escort and the horse, and
wounded a fourth man badly. It seems a strange
thing that such an accident should happen to me out
of all the First Army. I never knew such luck, but
UTJ-
LlAOYANG 141
after all I suppose I ought to rejoice that I was not
marching with the unfortunate escort.
Fenshan, September 7th^ 1904. — The remains of my
kit came in here at 1.30 a.m. to-daj. There is going
to be a court of inquiry. The orderlies tell different
stories. Some say the shell was fired by the Russians
at the cart and hit it. Others that the cart went
over a blind shell and burst it. I suspect myself that
one of the escort picked up a shell and then carelessly
let it drop, a pernicious trick indulged in by soldiers
of all armies.
Fbnshan, Septemher 7th, 1904. — ^All my kit has been
riddled, bedding, clothes, reports, note-books — nothing
has escaped. The most serious damage is that caused
to my gum boots, my new khaki coat, and forage cap. I
daresay a bicyclist may be able to patch up the rents
in the gum boots as if they were tyre punctures, but
the coat is past praying for, and I had been saving it
up religiously for my call upon Oyama, whenever the
fortune of war should be pleased to give us admission
to Liaoyang. However, I have one consolation. I
always picture the Devil roaming about and waiting
his chance against me, armed with a great bow and a
quiver full of arrows. Most of them are quite harm-
less to my particular individuality, but here and there
is a shaft winged with black feathers, and these have
power to work me deadly hurt. When the Fiend can
be tempted into discharging one of his black arrows
for the sake of some mere material injury, such as the
loss of a bet or a mischance to my worldly goods, then
I thank Heaven it is no worse and breathe more
freely.
FmiiSH AN, September 8tA, 1904. — Bode into Liaoyang.
Mr. Masuda has washed my coat and done his best to
142 A Staff Officer's Sgrap-Book
sew up the holes in it, but I could have executed the
repairs as well myself with a brad-awl and some string.
I found our attaches with the Second Army still
in the state of tutelage from which we emerged
directly we left Fenghuangcheng. They were confined
to a radius of some 800 yards. I have heard a great
deal about the Second Army, but I shall leave the south
bank of the Taitsuho strictly alone, as the affairs of my
own army give me more than enough to think about.
After comparing experiences, I was offered a magnificent
meat and bread luncheon. Colonel Haldane apologised
for the quality of the bread, which was, so he said,
inferior ! ! ! I nearly dropped dead. This rechercJiS
luncheon spoke more eloquently than volumes of dry
military literature as to the advantages of campaigning
in combination with a line of railway.
I went on to pay my respects to the Marshal Oyama
and General Kodama, his Chief of the Staff. What a
difference does war make in the status of a general !
In Tokio, Oyama and Kodama were grandees, certainly,
but still hardly so exciting to encounter as, for instance,
the Prime Minister, the leader of the Opposition, or
a personage about the Court. Here, they are demi-
gods, there is no doubt about it. Without an effort
they can fill my note-books to overflowing with good
things or send me empty away to Fanshan, or for that
matter to Dalny or Japan.
I was kept waiting a couple of minutes in a small
room furnished in European style when the door opened
and Oyama, Kodama, and Fukushima walked in.
Oyama was dressed in khaki, with tight Bedford cord
pantaloons, and slippers. He looked remarkably well.
He made me seat myself in a huge purple velvet arm-
chair whiph had been Kuropatkin's, so they said. Then;
I
£
(
I
1
jmmmmmm
LlAOYANG 143
champagne and large Manilla cigars were handed
round. When I saw the champagne I said, '' I cannot
restrain my smiles on seeing the face of an old friend/'
When this sentiment was translated, it happened to
make a Japanese poem of exactly the right number of
syllables. Oyama was greatly pleased, as he is a bit
of a poet himself. In drinking my health Kodama said :
** We must crack the next bottle at Mukden." I was
questioned about my own adventures and a good
deal also about the feelings of the First Army, on
which subject I felt it prudent to say as little as
possible. I asked Marquis Oyama if he was pleased
with the result of his operations, and he replied :
*^ Moderately ; the Bussians have managed their
retreat too cleverly."
I told them the story of my misadventure with
the Bussian shell and about our soldiers of the First
Army having had to eat their rice uncooked. They
asked me if I had tried it. I said, '' yes," on which,
genuinely astonished and distressed in their hospitable
souls, they exclaimed : '' What! a British general make
his dinner off raw rice 1 " I replied : " I did not make
my dinner off it ; I tried one grain to see what it was
like, and that sufficed for my wants." This disposed
of the incident and seemed to put them all into high
good humour.
No one could have been brighter or cheerier than the
redoubtable trio, and I did not know till I got back
here again that General Fukushima had lost his son
in the battle. It is the Japanese code of manners that
no personal sorrow or calamity should be allowed even
in the smallest degree to influence ordinary social
duties or the manner in which they are conducted.
Here was a case in point.
144 A Staff Officer's Scbap-Book
When I took my leave they came out with me to the
doorstep and pointed out the big, canvas-roofed shed
adjoining the house. It was intended to provide shelter
for the escort of a generalissimo, and they said : " Is it
not thoughtful of Kuropatkin to have made such con-
venient arrangements for us ? " Then a final salute
and I was oS.
It was late when I got back, and I foimd Head-
quarters had been so put out by the action of one or
two of my friends, the journalists, who had overstayed
their leave of absence, that they had telegraphed
orders to all the outlying military attach^ to come in
from their Divisions to Headquarters. So we shall be
a big troupe again, just as we were in the days at
Fenghuangcheng, which now appear so distant.
By the Vray, I must not go to bed to-night without
first chronicling the remarkably fine dinner I had
to-night, enriched as it was by the Chinese cakes and
bread, apples, pears, and grapes I bought on my way
back through Liaoyang.
NOTE TO PAGE 186
The AAhaniien position was 9 miles loDg; ezoeptionally strong
agiiinst any frontal attack, and not easily to be turned. Tnie, a
gap of 12^ miles separated its eastern flank from the equally advanoed
Russian section of defence at Langtsushan, and into this gap the
Japanese Tenth Division from Hsimucheng (Tokubokojo) appeared
to be advancing. But the country to be traversed was so impracti-
cable that the Bussian troops on the spot should have been strong
enough to resist any Japanese advance from that direction. The
right of the position, which rested on low hills rising out of a sea of
In^jintig to tiie west of the railway, was almost equally difficult to
mancBUvre against. To turn this western flank part of the Second
Army must have made a diiaur through the kaoliung, ezposing
themselves to all the danger of surprise and counter attack.
CHAPTEE XXVI
SOJOURN AT FENSHAN
Fbnshan, September 10th, 1904. — My brother
attach^ have oome in, all very fit and full of news.
We have a room to ourselves, thank heaven. They
have seen and made notes of all the details of the
combats of their respective Divisions, and I have got
the nm of the operations from the Headquarters point
of view, so, between us, we ought to be able to produce
some &irly useftd reports.
I have just heard an account of a sermon preached a
few days ago to the Imperial Guards by a Buddhist
priest. He spoke for three-quarters of an hour, making
the most of one of his rare chances. The sermon was
so good that he fi*equently made his audience roar with
laughter. He inculcated the Buddhist view of the
insignificant value of life, and the foUy of clingmg to
it too eagerly, by telling the men a story of two fiiends
meeting in the street. After the usual salutations,
one Mend asked the other after the health of his most
honourable father. The reply was that the father had
just been drowned, which cast rather a damper upon
the conversation. Plucking up coiu*age, the man whose
father had been drowned asked his fiiend in turn as to
the health of a &vourite uncle. The reply was that
the uncle had also just been drowned. This time
the friends could hardly help laughing. Thus they
u K
146 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
discovered two things : first, that death could not be
so terrible after all ; secondly, that the sea was the
most dangerous place in the world.
" In arriving at such a conclusion," said the preacher,
« they were only partly right, for you, my brave fnends,
being many of you seafaring men, are well aware that the
sea is by no means so specially dangerous as appears to
have been too hastily supposed. The moral of my
story is that the place of every one's death is pre-
ordained, and ,that as one place is actually just about
as dangerous as another, there is nothing in nature or
in philosophy which should incline a man to go less
boldly into a fight than into his bed at night. In
neither case should he for a moment trouble his head
with any trifling consideration as to whether he will
come out of it alive or be taken out of it dead. I do
not, of course, presume to speak to the Imperial Guards
about any fear of the enemy. But I refer rather to
the fear some of you may have that by some personal
negligence or rashness you may possibly do something
to injure your country or the Emperor. I tell you,
fear not at all. If your intentions are right, then your
actions will be right also."
Beferring later on in his discourse to the tempta-
tions of the world and of the flesh he said : " A man
may awake in the morning and long very much for an
Osaka cigarette to smoke, or for a delicious sweetmeat
made of red or white beans. If the powers of evil are
very strong within him, he may even hope it will rain
very heavily, so that on that day at least no exhaust-
ing march will be possible. During peace-time, when
each of you is his own master, such thoughts are
merely weak and rather contemptible, but in war-time
they are absolutely wicked and unworthy of a Japanese
^Rj «"• ' ■^..^^"-■^■■i^Bi^r»"^«5.^w^r"^t;^-^«»ww:«^^i^"**»^^pi^'jn
Sojourn at Fbnshan 147
soldier. Should your mirrors reflect such thoughts as
these, then, indeed, as the poet finely says, you will
see an ugly thing. Such ideas are Tokio ideas; fit
only for Tokio and much to be fought against and
regretted even when they occur there *' ; from all of
which will be gathered that there is quite a family
resemblance between the sermon of a Buddhist priest
and a Chiu'ch of England parson. Only, on the matter
of military virtues, the Buddhist assumes a much
loftier standard than the good Padre would venture to
take up.
On the other hand, let no one imagine that the
Japanese soldiers are immaculate lambs when it comes
to the ordinary civilian qualities. I will not enumerate
their lapses from the narrow paths of virtue, for it
becomes not a guest to notice even the peccadillos of
his hosts. But there are just a few, and I am not
sure, without further inquiry, what view the Buddhist
priest would take of such derelictions. Probably he
would disapprove, but not to the same extent as might
be imagined from his diatribe against what to us alas !
are very venial sins of the self-indulgent or unmanly
type.
Fenshan, Septemher 15th, 1904. — We are leading a
very quiet life, writing our official reports of the
battle, and reports also on all sorts of fancy subjects :
cavalry, artillery, &c. &c. — for we feel we must earn
our pay.
Jardine came in two days ago with fine accoimts of
the storming of the lofty Kosarei mountain on the
night of August 25th-26th by the intrepid Kigoshi,
and with even more exciting stories of the confused
night-fighting in the kaoliung, near the Yentai coal-
mines, on the night of September 4th-5th, We have
.j..*.ni^ ijB. . — % ^iL^^^msim
148 A Staff Officbr's Scrap-Book
all talked over the failure of the Japanese to make any
effective pursuit, and our small committee, at any rate,
have granted them plenary absolution. The First Army
had been fighting nine or ten days and nights, and
had lost very heavily. Had the Russians stood they
wotild have attacked them again ; but as the Russians
were removing themselves, every one was only too
glad to have done with them. K Kuroki's energetic
orders had been addressed to fresh troops they might
have been acted on with corresponding ener J; as it
was, neither executive officers nor men were burning
to maintain contact with the receding zone of the
Bussian shrapnel, and they tacitly acted on this dis-
inclination, feeling especially justified by the fact that
their own under-horsed guns were unable to come up
through the mud to support them. Thus it came to
pass that, instead of starting soon after 3 p.m., the
Divisional Commanders deliberately delayed until
darkness ; thus they got lost in the ketoliung, and thus
the Russians, who are said by the Japanese to have
been still full of fight, were able to get away without
loss to their dignity or to their mcUSriel.
No task is more agreeable to the armchair critic
than to pounce upon the slackness of an army to take
full advantage of a victory. The comfortable man
sitting by his fire after a good dinner sees through
the illimiinative spectacles of a glass or two of port
wine that one more trifling effort — ^a mere nothing
compared to preceding struggles — ^would produce
incalculable results. Next morning he ts^es up
his pen and lets drive. Probably he is wrong.
When two evenly-matched armies fight for several
days and nights there is not often much to choose
between the condition, moral and physical, of victors
.L ■ ■»< ■ miwm m J .'wvBieaisaBiaOBv
Sojourn at Fbnshan 149
and vanquished. Just one hair's breadth of difference,
possibly, if it could be traced, in the behaviour of a
drummer, bugler, or simple private would have com-
pletely reversed the fortunes of the day. Nevertheless
the irrevocable word " retreat " has been uttered by
the Commander of one army, and the other army,
which had, an hour previously, felt quite at the end
of its tether, realises its victoiy. The experience is
not easily forgotten, and, therefore, I feel able to
urge with all the more conviction that, in such a
moment of joyous reaction and expansion, troops do
not respond very easily to orders to plunge themselves
again under the showers of musketry and shrapnel.
We have a fairly decent room here, but the house is
situated on the lowest-lying part of Fanshan, and the
roads consist of alternative stretches of filth-pools and
quagmires of sticky, smelly mud, over which we hop
gingerly on stepping-stones till we arrive at a spot
where, in some previous dynasty, one of these aids to
progression has been removed. Then it becomes a case
of skip, jump, flounder, and swear.
Our village is plumped down in the middle of a vast
plain covered, up to within a yard of its walls, by mag-
nificent crops. Even the very housetops are hidden
under the insinuating grip of luxuriant cucumber and
pumpkin plants, and bring forth an opulent harvest of
green and golden gourds. In the courtyards the sun-
flower is the Chinaman's favourite. Here it grows to
a height of fourteen feet, and often bears a blossom two
feet in diameter. Englishmen accustomed to violets
and roses and such like poetic trifles might think I had
over-estimated the size of my sunflower, but fortunately
I am not an uncorroborated Marco Polo, but am backed
up by those who have measured. Sometimes the plain
«"W««
150 A STATf Officer's Sobap-Book
reminds me. especiaUy by its flatness and clumps of
large spreading trees, of the country round Lucknow ;
only the crops are five times more luxuriant, the houses
ten times more substantial and prosperous.
Fenshan, September I5th, 1904. — I have had a great
score over Hume, Vincent, and Jardine. In the after-
noon they all rode off to Liaoyang to buy pears and
apples whilst I remained at work. At 3 p.m. came
in and said that Colonel Matsuishi, Vice- Chief of the
Greneral Staff, had just received a cable ordering him to
go back to Tokio to take up an important post at the
War Office. It would be a nice little attention, th^e-
fore, he thought, if I would offer him tea and cakes that
afternoon to celebrate his departure.
" That is all very well," I said, " but where are the
cakes?" "Do not trouble yourself on that score,"
said , " I charge myself with the details of the
entertainment." It sounded like a fairy tale, but
I wrote over to Matsuishi, who very cordially
accepted.
Shortly afterwards some soldiers appeared and deco-
rated the room, and then Matsuishi arrived with
Colonel Kurita and one or two other German-speaking
Staff officera Every one was at once put into an ex-
ceedingly good temper by the appearance of a light,
well-baked gingerbread cake. It was so large that I
thought at first some of it might be left over for my
brother attaches, but very soon it had entirely dis-
appeared. To the amazement of the company,
then produced a bottle of gooseberry champagne,
which turned out to be the bottle I was to have drunk
to celebrate the fall of Port Arthur, and when the tea-
cups had been filled with the bubbling, liquid amber,
I proposed the Stonepine's health (Matsu, a pine ; Ishi,
Sojourn at Fenshak 151
a stone). This was my first attempt at public speaking
in German, and it went abominably badly. After the
usual things, I added : " I hope when Colonel Mat-
suishi returns in great honour and glory to take his
seat with the Headquarters Staff in Tokio he will not
forget his humble friends here, and that he will, on some
suitable occasion, explain to the rulers of the army that,
although we may sometimes be a little troublesome, we
should not on that account be considered either wicked
or dangerous {vielleicht sind wir zuweilen etwas
miihamn^ aher nicht hose oder gefdrlich)^ Matsuishi
sat a good long time, and then made an excellent little
speech in Grerman with a word or two of English or
French thrown in, saying how hard it was to leave
comrades in time of war, but that duty must at all
costs be done.
The evenings are now becoming quite cool and
fresh.
Fbnshan, September I7th, 1904. — Yesterday I went
to call on Greneral Oku, the Commander of the Second
Army. Although younger than Kuroki, he is still a
Japanese of the old style. Whereas the dominant
expression of Kuroki's face is that of dreamy benevo-
lence, the chief impression conveyed by Oku's features
is one of masterful brightness and intelligence. He was
dressed in English khaki serge, and wore a tufb on his
chin^ French fashion. Last year he represented the
Japanese army at Delhi, and he showed great interest
in hearing about my life in Pretoria, and my relations
with Lord Kitchener when I was his Chief of the Staff.
When he had had enough of me he sent me off to in-
spect his battlefield, under charge of a selected officer,
and I had an interesting day. Colonel Haldane has to
deal with this part of the business, and I will only note
■i^P'^^w^^^"" ■•■.•" m
152 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
down that I can understand now why Oyama did not
make better progress in his attempt to turn the
Russian right.
It is evident that after rain the plain to the west of
the railway must have been practically impassable for
artillery, and only passable with the utmost difficulty
by cavalry ^nd infantry. Therefore, the main successes
were gained by Nodzu and the Fourth Army on the
higher, stonier ground to the east of the railway.
In a quarry not far from here some Japanese soldiers
had found a horse abandoned by the Russians. It had
fallen down from a considerable height and was quite
insensible. Its body was not yet cold, however, and
a Chinaman passing by declared that, if there was any
life in it at all, he would make it get up. - He was
allowed to make his experiment and, producing his
knife, he cut something out of the comer of each of
the animal's eyes. He then gave the horse a good
kick, and it immediately stood up. The Japanese
Veterinary Officer says that the Chinaman has not
injured any vital part of the eye.
Marshal Oyama and General Kodama did me the
high honour of calling on me to-day.
Later on I had a long talk with an officer from our
own Headquarters, the first we have had for some ten
days or so. He has given me a complete list of the
Bussian forces opposed to us during the battle of
Liaoyang, with which I shall not burden these notes.
Indeed, I have not the energy which would enable me
to go over all the old ground again, but some of his
remarks are certainly worth entering.
For instance, after giving me the detail of the
enemy's troops, he went on to say : " There is no doubt
that Kuropatkin felt great confidence in this big army.
'mm-^mmmm^mr'^^i i ipi^pi^— ^w— ^^^— ^^^^:^T;yn|^w^«^Hiy^yp>lp
Sojourn at Fenshan 153
and was most anxious to bring off a counter-attack on
a large scale. But once he had committed himself to
a retreat from Anshantien, Marshal Oyama's pursuit
was so quick and so persistent that he had no time
to pull himself together or to make the necessary
redistributions.
"So, likewise, were we too quick for him here, in
our passage of the river, and the Bussian defences on
Tsaofantun and Hsinlitun were only commenced as we
got within artillery range of them. Under so great a
pressure, Kuropatkin had not time to reflect or to
judge the situation calmly, and he could not even feel
certain of the whereabouts of our main force. The
wide frontage on which we maintained our right con-
firmed him in his incertitude, until, finally, he deter-
mined that safety would best be consulted by retiring
without committing himself to his contemplated deci-
sive counter-attack.
"By the evening of September 3rd, there were
only 5000 or, at the most, 6000 Russians in Liaoyang
itself. You can realise how fortunate we were that
the remainder of the great army was for the most part
engaged in falling back on Mukden instead of in press-
ing us back upon our bridges.
" Lieutenant-Colonel Fukuda has told you, in terms
perhaps unduly sarcastic, that the First Army could
make no use of their cavalry.* It was the same with
the cavalry on the south side of the Taitsuho. Major-
General Akiyama commanded the mixed Brigade of
Cavaby, but although he was supported by field-guns,
* lieutenant-Colonel Fukuda, speaking of the action of Septem-
ber did, had said : '^ Even at a supreme moment such as this there
was, however, one group of men who were idle. This was the
cavalry. So they were employed to go back to the river and cook
food for their companions of the infantry."
154 A Staff Officee's Scrap-Book
machine-guns, and infantry, he could accomplish
nothing against the right of the Russian Army. The
Cavahy Brigade in question had two men wounded.
As you know, we were very nervous about our right
flank during the fighting on this side of the river ;
not only from Orloff at the Yentai coal-mines, but also
from a point a mile or two further to the east. A
convenient valley runs thence by which an enterprising
Russian cavalry commander might have made a dash
right down upon the Swallow's Nest Hill and the
pontoon bridges. Naturally we had done what we
could to provide against such an enterprise, and the
hills to the north of the SwalloVs Nest hill were
picqueted with two battalions of Kobi, but these
were far too weak to cover the whole of the groimd
eflfectively. We were rendered specially uneasy by
the knowledge that, although Kuropatkin might over-
estimate our strength, the commanders in immediate
contact with us must have been aware of our weak-
ness. For the passage of the river by the Twelfth
Division was watched by small parties of Russian
cavalry, who fell back without firing a shot. The
infantry then expelled them altogether merely by
advancing, and so the two battalions of Kobi occupied
the hills without any trouble or skirmishing."
Putting together the map and the foregoing state-
ment, British officers will understand better than by
any long-winded treatise how entirely different are the
methods of the Cossack from those of the Afridi or
the Boer.
The Japanese are, as I had already more than
surmised, not happy about the general results of the
battle. My visitor went on to say :
'' Until mid-day on August 28 th, when, at Boshisan,
Sojourn at Fenshan 155
we received orders telling us to cross the river earlier,
and in less force, than we had originally intended to cross
it, the operations of the First Army had been crowned
with complete success. It will ever be our greatest
pride to recall the achievement of Kigoshi's Brigade of
the Twelfth Division when they scaled the precipitous
ridge of Kosarei on the night of August 25th-26th.
Some of the cliffs were so sheer that the soldiei*s had
to bend down, like boys playing leap-frog, for quite a
long time, whilst the remainder of their companions
made use of their backs as stepping-stones. All the
soldiers laughed at such an arrangement and said that
Marshal Kuroki had made his army first like ducks to
cross rivers, and now he was turning them into ladders
to scale mountains. But towards the end of the con-
tinuous battles which ensued, these same merry men
fell asleep in the midst of the heaviest fire, and when
the enemy grew very close indeed their officers had to
go round and shake them violently before they could
be awakened. And now, having struggled to the
very last stage, overcoming difficulties and hardships,
we have failed in co-operating as we should have done
with the other two armies, at which we feel much
ashamed.
" Nevertheless, it is wiser, perhaps, to remember
that things might have turned out even worse than
has proved actually to be the case. At any rate, we
deceived Kuropatkin as to our strength, partly by
our vride extensions, partly because we assumed the
strongest possible offensive, although we were so
desperately weak. But the game wm dangerous.
The more we bluffed the worse our beating would
have been had Kuropatkin's eyes been opened instead
of remaining, os they did, tightly shut ; and this is
156 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
what we may put on the other side of the balance
when we feel too much ashamed at our failure.
" Perhaps Heaven was, after all, bestowing upon
us a special blessing just when we were most inclined
to be downcast. Be this as it may, the 31st, the 1st
and the 2nd, were the days when above all others in
my life my dinner had least savour."
Fbnshan, September 19th, 1904. — It has suddenly
become as cold as an English mid October. I went
into Liaoyang to-day at 1.30 p.m. to feast with the
Marquis Oyama at 3 p.m. The feast proved historic,
inasmuch as it was the first occasion on which all the
army commanders had met since the outbreak of the
war. At one moment Oyama, Kuroki, Oku, and
Nodzu were in a little group all by themselves.
General Nodzu was of a frank and genial appearance.
General Oku looked keen and forcible.
The three Imperial Princes — Kanin, Kuni, and
Nashimoto — ^were also present. Prince Kanin is
slight and very handsome. He looks every inch the
beau sahreur.
One and all they were most friendly. Every one I
have spoken to this afternoon has apologised for our
hardships and want of food. There is no occasion. We
are stout and well-liking and I trust do credit to our
rice. I think, too, that every keen soldier would
prefer to be credited with a perfect indifference to
hardships. What we do appreciate is military
ca/rna/raderie and the friendship of our hosts. Marquis
Oyama told me, in French, that General Kodama was
not present at the feast because he had gone down
to Port Arthur to try and expedite matters.
When I came back I found a very nice letter await-
ing me from General Teraoutsi, the War Minister at
SojouiiN AT Fenbhan 157
Tokio, in which he also spoke feelingly about hard-
shipe and hunger. I must reassure him on this point
Fenshan, September 22nd, 1904. — ^Yesterday I
concocted an answer to General Teraoutsi, in which I
fiilly opened my heart to him. No one can censor a
letter to the War Minister, I should think.
To-day I have been to call on General Nodzu,
conunanding the Fourth Army. He has taken up his
quarters in a house standing in a pretty Chinese
garden belonging to one of the wealthiest residents
of Liaoyang. The general received me most kindly.
Champagne and cigars were forthcoming to season
our short conversation, after which I was packed
off with a staff officer to inspect the scene of the
triumph of his army. I will excuse myself from
narrating a story which does not fall within my own
legitimate sphere of observation. It is difficult to
understand how troops could have been driven out of
such positions as those held here by the Russians,
except by pre-supposing a great superiority of
numbers which the Japanese did not possess. The
redoubt and trenches were immensely strong, except
that they all lacked head-cover, and without head-
cover troops are apt to crouch down and fire at
random. Indeed, I saw in several of the redoubts to
the south of Liaoyang marks of where the muzzles of
the rifles seemed to have been resting against the
earthen parapet, thus lending some colour to the
theory that at once time in the action the defenders
had been shooting high.
We were told how in one assault about twenty
Japanese got into a redoubt and were cut off there.
The Bussians in the redoubt bandaged up their
wounds and sent them all back again*
158 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
After my study of the ground I went to have tea in
Liaoyang with a good missionary and his lady, Presby-
terians both. Hume, Jardine, and Vincent had also
been favoured with invitations. The missionary was
unadulterated Scotch, and his wife was a Scots-Irish
lady. We all enjoyed ourselves almost to excess. It
was an exciting moment when we found ourselves
seated at a table spread with snowy linen and groan-
ing to be relieved of its weight of scones and of sponge
cakes. Hume and Jardine fairly astonished this table,
Vincent and I did our modest best.
Our hosts told us many interesting things about
the Chinese, who are their pupils, patients, and friends,
and also about the Bussian occupation.
The Chinese were at first genuinely glad the Japa-
nese had supplanted the Russians, as the former had
won the highest reputation for themselves throughout
Northern China by their admirable discipline and
general behaviour during the Boxer troubles. Since
their arrival, however, the Japanese have been looting
chickens, and the Chinamen have already changed
their minds, and sadly quote one of their own proverbs
to the effect that " The grandmother has left us but
grandpapa has come in her place.'' The missionaries
themselves seemed to have liked the Bussians very
welL Up to the very last the latter had been
absolutely optimistic. They were always ready to
own up that their intelligence was bad, and that they
knew very little about the Japanese movements ; but
they said that did not matter. The missionaries paid
a handsome tribute to the behaviour of the men in
Liaoyang.
Fenshan, September 28thy 1904. — We are becoming
luxurious and semi-civilised now that we have got on
Sojourn at Fbnshan 159
to the railway line* The Headquarters have been
exceptionallj hospitable and kind this last week,
during which I have been busy writing reports.
A member of the Staff came to see me to-day. He
gave me a number of details about the Manjuyama
fighting, and explained the artillery firing we occasion-
ally hear to the north of us, by saying that there are
two Kussian Divisions on the right bank of the Hunho
who indulge in occasional skirmishes with Umezawa's
brigade and with our cavalry patrols.
He went on to talk about Port Arthur. For weeks not
one word has been uttered on the subject. He said that
the semi-permanent forts, one on each side of the main
road to the north of the town, had now fallen into the
hands of the Japanese. The waterworks, which lie
between these forts and the main forts, have also been
captured, and to-day the 11 -inch howitzers brought
over from the coast defences of Japan begin to shell
the town. These howitzers have a range of 8000
yards, and great confidence is expressed by the
Commander of the Third Army — General Nogi — ^in
the efficacy of their huge shells.
The next work which has to be taken is a permanent
fort, situated on the east side of the main road within
4000 yards of the town. I said, '* If it is a permanent
fort, its capture may take a very long time." and I
was told, " Never mind ; it will be taken in the
shortest time possible, even if our men have to tear up
the masonry ramparts with their finger nails."
Fenshan, September 29tA, 1904. — I started at 2 p.m.
to call by appointment on another missionary and his
wife, and I found a big Free, not a wee one, who is
said to be able to hold his own even with a red- beard
Chinese bandit. He has been here many years, and is
160 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
a considerable power in the land. He confirmed what
his brethren had already told us as to the eagerness
with which the Chinese had been looking forward to
the advent of the Japanese. The prevalence of such
a sentiment had been of enormous value to Oyama, as
it had inclined the inhabitants of the theatre of
operations to conceal everything from the Russians.
Silence, impenetrable as a prison wall, had surrounded
the intelligence bureau of Kuropatkin. On the other
hand, as an example of the perfect information
conveyed to Oyama, I was told that, on the last day of
the battle, the Japanese had thrown thirty shells into
the Yamen which had been the Russian Headquarters
until a day or two previously, when, luckily for them
and their records, they had changed. Now, however,
that grandpapa had actually come, the poor Chinese
had found in him a close relative of the Old Man of
the Sea. The main reason why the Chinese were
beginning to think more kindly of their former rulers
was that the Russians were extraordinarily generous
and liberal, whereas the Japanese were considered by
the shopkeepers to be stingy. I may parenthetically
remark that I do not think the Japanese are at all
stingy. Only they have not got the money ; and
although this does not prevent a European from spend-
ing it, our allies have not yet caught the trick of con-
juring with credit.
Another reason was that some of the Japcmese were
inclined to bully. I heard a story of how a Japanese
soldier was having a dispute with a Chinese shopkeeper
who kept a booth in the main street of Liaoyang.
Suddenly the soldier took his rifle by the muzzle and,
with its butt, in one fell swoop swept to the ground
the whole of the man's lemonade, cakes, sweetmeats.
SOJOUBN AT FbNSHAN 161
tea, stirabont, and all the rest of it. There were any
number of Japanese about who saw the occurrence and
did nothing, so my informant went up to the Chinese
soldiersand asked them what they were posted there for if
they were not to protect their own people. Eventually
he shamed four of them into coming forward to arrest
the soldier. Meanwhile his fit of passion had passed ; he
was sorry for what he had done, and some of his fellows
begged him off, saying it was a dispute about change,
and that the Chinaman had not given him back his
dues. The missionary, as was befitting, improved the
occasion by pointing out that a difference of opinion
about a copper was no sufficient reason for destroying
a man's whole stock-in-trade, and that the worst of
permitting rage to obtain the upper hand was that it
caused the man whom it has mastered to lose all sense
of justice or of proportion. Here, apparently, the
matter ended.
I must interpolate here another commentary. Excep-
tions prove the rule, and I believe the story I have
related is very much of an exception. The Japanese
soldiers are kindly and respectable men with, as I have
often written down, a very high sense of the military
obligation to be upright, and chivalrous, and con-
temptuous of money. If this story had concerned a
Japanese shopkeeper of the smaller sort, then I should
not have been so much surprised. For these latter^
lacking as they do the high ideals fostered by a military
training, are apt to be overbearing and avaricious,
qualities which may prove a handicap to them when it
comes to colonising Korea.
A third cause of the disillusionment of the Chinese
is the number of reftigees who are now flocking into
Liaoyang from the north, where all their villages have
n L
162 A Staff Offioeb's Scrap-Book
been occupied by the Japanese troops. Even where a
portion of the houses have been reserved for the
owners the Chinamen still insist on sending away all
their women. It is not that the soldiers have been
guilty of misbehaviour, or even of imdue familiarity,
with the celestial damosels. It is simply because the
code of modesty of the Japanese Army differs from
that which is accepted alike by Chinese and Europeans.
Modesty assumes different guises in different countries,
as well as in different ages, and here, in Manchuria,
thousands of poor women are leaving their homes
and crowding into the towns lest they should have
their vision blasted by seeing a little Jap soldier
splashing in his indispensable bath. When it is
explained to a Japanese that it is indecent to strip off
his clothes for a good wash in the presence of ladies
he is genuinely shocked at the immodest ideas which,
in his opinion, must underlie such a frame of mind.
Even a Japanese, however, cannot altogether escape
from the same troublesome modesty, and he is out-
raged beyond words if he sees, for instance, a European
kissing his wife good-bye on a railway platform.
A fourth and last grievance is that, with winter
coming on, the Japanese have often burnt doors and
windows of Chinese farms in order to cook their
rice.
As communications improve, the men will get a
regular allowance of friel and leave doors and windows
alone. The British, at any rate, can throw no stones
at soldiers who borrow furniture to boil their soup,
and I have yet to see the officer whose respect for
meum and tuvm is so fanatical that he will let his
men starve with hunger and cold whilst such luxmies
as furniture adorn the adjacent dwellings.
SOJOUEN AT FeNSHAN 163
According to the missionary the Russian soldiers
were not easily demoralised — not, at least, for long.
Their temperament was too mercurial. For a day or so
after a defeat everv one would be sunk in doleful
dumps. Then the band would play, and by night there
was a sound of revelry, during which the army would
forget all its woes and become once more invincible.
There is something, U> me. very attractive in these
traits of Bussian character. I prefer the philosophy
of the gay Cavalier to that of the sober Bound-
head. Ever since Shakespeare immortalised the
sentiment special allowances have been made for
the warrior, and often have grave magistrates on the
bench remembered that —
** A soldier's a man
And life's but a span
So let the soldier drink."
But, after all, it is the business of a soldier to hold
his life in fief for his country, and what is the value of
war unless it burns up and destroys the corrupt vices
which thrive so luxiuiantly on peace and civilisation ?
Where, as at Liaoyang, and, in a lesser degree, at Gape-
town, the luxury is too rank to be completely consumed,
then it is a bad look out for the army itself, as well as
for the nation which produced it I
It was during the brief period of depression follow-
ing the battle of the Yalu that Kuropatkin had railed
back his stores to Mukden, but when the reaction had
restored confidence the stores were all brought down
again to Liaoyang, where their ashes are still warm.
The foreigners with the Bussian army considered
Keller and Stakelberg the best and most energetic
commanders, although the Bussians themselves used to
164 A Staff Officer's Sgrap-Book
class them rather as thoughtless individuals of the St.
Petersburg drawing-room type.
After this visit we went over to our former hosts,
where, notwithstanding our outrageous appetites, we
had once more been bidden to tea. Here we met three
young ladies who were doctors. At least, one of them
was a full-blown doctor ; the other two were, I think,
aspirants. Of course they were all Scotch — they always
are in these impossible places.
The principal doctor was naturally pretty, but as a
tribute to science she had brushed her hair flat and
smooth, and had wound it into a hard and shining ball
at the back of her head. I doubt if young women have
any right to do this sort of thing. It is like a soldier
who malingers by cutting off his trigger-finger to pre-
vent himself from fighting. But now I am positively
wandering. What with eating scones and drinking
cups of tea, there was not much opportunity for
conversation.
The lady doctor had been stopped once by twenty
red beards armed with mausers, but when she explained
that she was on her way to visit a sick woman they let
her pass, not only unhurt but with full compliments.
She saw them stop another cart inmiediately after-
wards.
All the ladies were extremely annoyed with the
British Consul at Newchwang, who had ordered unmar-
ried missionaries of the fair sex to quit Liaoyang at the
commencement of the war. They had thus missed the
excitement and the opportunities for healing the
wounded, and I shall be sorry for the gentleman if ever*
he falls into their hands.
Fenshan, September SOth, 1904. — I went out for a
walk this evening with Booski. Coming back I heard-
Sojourn at Fbnshan 165
the band of the Guards, which was left behind during
the fighting and has only just rejoined. Booski, too,
pricked up her ears and rushed off eagerly towards the
sound of the music. Poor little doggie ! Those strains
must have reminded her of the Russian bandnstand
where, I am sure, she had been accustomed to receive
caresses and cakes from all the gay company there
assembled. But instead of finding anything so festive,
she and her master were greeted by rather a depressing
spectacle as soon as they turned the corner leading to
the Headquarters.
Under the lee of a ftmereal climip of pines which
marked a Chinese tomb, were collected the bandsmen
of the Japanese Guards. The sun had set, leaving a
dull red stain in the greenish western sky. Candles had
been lit on the music stands, and flickered with a feeble
gleam, whilst a selection of Scotch ballads which had
suffered a Manchurian change in time and key and tune
resounded dolefully through the empty streets. There
we two sat on a Russian camp kitchen, and two ragged
Chinese urchins looked on from the other side. No one
else. Any number of Japanese officers and men were
within a hundred yards of us, but when even the
musicians do not comprehend the music they play it is
too much to expect laymen to take much interest in
the programme.
Fenshan, October bthy 1904. — Still busy in the
morning with my report on lines of communication.
I am also writing on the pros and cons of artillery
dispersion or concentration as evidenced by the recent
battles.
It has been quite decidedly cold for the past two
days. The kaoliung is almost all cut now and is
arranged in giant stooks, which are being carted
166 A Staff Officeb's Scrap-Book
away by degrees. These stocks, looking like lofty
Indian wigwams, are so far apart that they would
form no impediment to the movement of cavahy, and
yet they give good concealment to anything which is
over half a mile distant. What a chance they would
give for dashing tactics on the part of the Bussians !
But the Cossacks, a sort of rude yeomanry, not know-
ing a word of Chinese, have evidently no aptitude for
guerilla warfare, which requires either high training or
else special conditions of life.
The bean crop is also being reaped. The result has
been a great change in the tactical attributes of the
terrain. On the whole, although no doubt the
kaoliung was occasionally of help to the Russians, I
think it is lucky for Kuroki that the battle of Liaoyang
was got over before the country become so denuded as
it wUl be shortly.
For the past four days there has been a steady flow
of troops northwards. Such a movement seems to
portend fighting, as it would otherwise surely be a
very needless aggravation of the line of communication
difficulties to remove men from the neighbourhood
of the Taitsuho, where they can so easily be supplied
not only by rail but also by water? Most of the
soldiers we meet are clad in brand new blue serges,
but they have now no numbers on their shoulder-
straps, which really shows a great want of considera-
tion on the part of the Japanese towards military
attaches.
At 1 P.M. I went off with Hume to an entertainment
given by the Guards Pioneer Battalion to celebrate the
completion of a big bridge they have been making over
the Liao river. It is an invariable Japanese custom to
show hospitality on such occasions.
Sojourn at Fbnshan 167
I am very glad I went. Kuroki was there with a
great assemblage of officers, also the Taotai of Liao<
yang, accompanied by some of his officials. For
amusement we had a regatta in pontoons ; the different
companies competing and evoking much enthusiasm
from their comrades on: the banks. Heavy charges of
dynamite were also exploded, killing nmnbers of fish-
I secured a large basket full for our mess. Then came
the feast which had, according to custom, to be served
on the bridge itself. It adapted itself very well to
our picnic, and I was much interested to see an enter-
tainment given by a Japanese battalion to brother
officera in other regiments and corps. The Guards
Pioneers put their best foot forward, and all the officers
from Lieutenant-Colonel to latest joined were as busy
as bees. It was evident that the resources of the
battalion were being taxed to the utmost. All sorts of
receptacles were pressed into the service of the cuisine —
mess-tins, canteens, ammunition-boxes, and wash-hand
basins.
The dishes I have best cause to remember were
dough dumplings of millet-flour, floating in a pink
syrup something like raspberry vinegar ; balls of
minced-meat fried in batter ; bags of apples and pears ;
an enormous caldron of stewed vegetables, and a
wheelbarrow piled high with smoking hot rice. A
truck laden with bottles of beer perambulated slowly
across the bridge, getting sensibly lighter with each
yard of its progress. In this delicious liquor the
healths of the chief engineer and of the officer
commanding the pioneer battalion were drunk with
much enthusiasm.
Every one was friendly and familiar. All who spoke
to me were astonished to see by my dusty boots that
168 A Staff Officbb's Sobap-Book
I had walked. In spite of the marching powers of
their own infantry, it is a ceaseless cause of wonder-
ment to the Japanese when any one trudges on foot
who might have ridden on horseback. In this respect
they resemble the ancient Egyptians who were so
puzzled when they saw the officers of the Boman
garrison taking their constitutional up and down the
ramparts of their fort. Junior regimental officers
perforce take a great deal of exercise and keep very
hard and fit, but as soon as a man gets on to the staff
and is entitled to a horse he will not walk fifty yards
a year if he can possibly help it. I have only met
one single superior officer who is an exception to this
rule; absolutely only one. He does like to take
walking exercise for about an hour a day, and to this
eccentric habit of his I owe many of my happiest and
most profitable moments. Still, even he would never
have dreamed of walking over here. For although I
have come round by the railway bridge and have only
marched some four or five miles yet, to hear my
Japanese friends it might be thought I had covered
myself with glory. I had to give a reason ; to have
explained that I walked for pleasure would have
seemed incredible, and so I replied to their inquiries
that I did it to keep myself thoroughly fit for the
next great battle.
The First Army headquarters are not the men to
miss a feast, and one of them told me, on the bridge,
that the U-inch howitzers had got feirly to work
at Port Arthur, and had yesterday succeeded in
knocking down the staff office of the Russian General
in chief command. A counter-attack made against
the Japanese left last night by one battalion was easily
repulsed, as well as a similar attempt made against
SoJOUBN AT Fenshan 169
the right by half a Bussian battalion. Still, the mere
fSeu^t of the Bussians making counter-attacks shows
that they have some life left in them. Some of the
officers here think that, as Port Arthmr has held out
for so much longer than any one had expected,
Kuropatkin will very likely attack us. The Bussians,
they say, think themselves better than the Japanese
in winter, and the pressure from St. Petersburg
is very great. I wonder if this is true? Of
course, if the St. Petersburg people try to force
Kuropatkin*s hand, Bussia will deserve all that it
will get. The Japanese are now entrenched up to
their chins. Even as far back as this village, gun-
pits and trenches have been dug on every commanding
site.
Fenshan, October 6th, 1904. — Sergeant - Major
Sumino has told the interpreters and servants to pack
all the attaches' kits into boxes so that they can be
stored for some time, whilst the bare necessaries are
to be put into one small bag. Great excitement, but
absolutely denies that there is any prospect of a
move.
Fenshan, October 7th, 1904. still denies with
oaths that there is any idea of a move on the part of
any one, but we know he is not speaking the truth.
Very vexatious ; neither my new boots nor my warm
coat have turned up in time.
9 P.M. has just been in. He says Head-
quarters are about to move thirteen miles to the north.
Would I not prefer to stay quietly in this comfortable
house and follow on afterwards for the battle ? Head-
quarters undertake to give me ample warning. He
then strongly recommended me to remain, as it was
very doubtful indeed, he said, whether accommoda-
I II, I ■■! 1^1 > 4 Hi iinii 1^ I i.mwjii ■ .1
170 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
tion of any sort would be forthcoming in the neigh-
bourhood of the new headquarters ; not at least with-
out a little time for making the necessary arrange-
ments. I am afraid I almost lost that calm which,
emulating the Japanese and trying to live up to their
ideals, I have usually managed to preserve. " No ! "
I cried, ** No ! I will not let headquarters out of my
sight ; not for the sake of a comfortable house — not
even for the sake of an Imperial palace 1 " So he flew
off to consult with and , as he always does
in these emergencies.
Fenshan, October 8«A, 1904. — The Headquarters
march north to-day and we follow to-morrow. I only
hope we are not going to miss anything. We have
no idea whether we are going to see a Japanese
advance or a Kussian attack. A cable arrived for me
from England to-day saying I was about to be offered
an 'important command," but nothing can be so
important as my present work. I am reminded of my
last day in Fenghuangcheng. The whole place is
empty; only a few reservists are left in Liaoyang,
where I have been to say good-bye to the hospitable
missionaries to whom we British attach^ owe such
delightful tea-table and conversational reminiscences.
A Japanese army disappears in one night as quietly as
snow in a thaw.
T««r '^^■■•»»»^"^r^ T . '^F— ^■^■^■^o^w
J
CHAPTER XXVII
THE ARMIES IN CONTACT
Taiyo, October 9th, 1904. — Our baggage was ordered
to start at 9 a.m., so to keep myself warm whilst the
carts were being loaded, I went for a farewell prome-
nade round the familiar homesteads of Fenshan. In
the middle of my circuit I was surprised to hear the
sound of brisk rifle-fire coming from the direction of
Manjuyama. I feared the Cossacks might have
worked clean round Euroki's right flank, and as we
were now sJl alone in the village I thought I had
better get back to my horse so as to be prepared for all
emergencies. When I told an officer of the staff who
was to accompany us, he laughed and explained that
the Chinese are taking advantage of the pre-occupation
of the Hussians and Japanese to run a little show on
their own. Accordingly the troops of the Taotai of
Liaoyang have chosen this moment to attack a band
of Redbeards, who are showing fight in the valley
between Mountains 131 and 151. I must deny myself
the pleasure of being present. Imagine Lord Kitchener's
feelings if he opened my despatch expecting an account
of one of the decisive battles of the world and found
instead an account of a Chinese scrinmiage I
After marching for twelve miles to the north we
reached this place, which is about two and a half miles
172 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
south of the coal-mines. The sound of heavy gun-fire
is coming from the north-east.
Taiyo is a rambling village surrounded by the broken
ground in which Orloff permitted his troops to be
caught in their close formations on September 2nd.
The owner of the farmhouse in which I am writing has
just been doing some mule coping. He has a singular
plan for testing the strength of the mules he is inclined
to buy. Bopes are fastened to the mule's collar and
six strong coolies hang on to these like grim death.
The animal is then whipped up, and if it can overcome
the resistance of the coolies it is bought ; if not it is
cast. Sometimes the coolies lose their footing and are
dragged through the mud and trampled upon by the
mules, greatly to the amusement of the women stand-
ing in the doorways, who simply shriek with laughter
to see such jolly fun. The scene I have described may
give some idea of the perfect indifference with which
the Chinese continue their ordinary avocations at the
very crisis of a campaign, even at the headquarters of
one of the opposing forces.
9 P.M. — I got a message an hour ago from head-
quarters telling me that if I cared to come over they
would be very glad to try and give me some idea of
the actual, tactical situation. Needless to say I lost
no time, and one of my kind mentors, resuming func-
tions too long in abeyance, gave me about a quarter of
an hour, which, if it does not tell me all I would like
to know, revesJs to me, at any rate, the gaps which
have occurred in my knowledge of events since the
battle of Lioayang.
The situation is of extraordinary interest.
Although I had heard that the Quards, Second and
Twelfth Division, stretched east and west in a line
The Armibs in Contact 173
whose right rested on the Yentai coal mines and whose
left reached the railway, I have never been able to
hear a word of the Umezawa Brigade since they fired
the last shots of the battle of Liaoyang at Sankwai-
sekisan* on the afternoon of September 5th. It
seems that three days later Umezawa marched right
away sixteen miles eastwards to Pingtaitsu, where he
has been covering Penchiho against an attack from
the north. {See Map XXIII. ).
On September 17th an advance was made upon
Pingtaitsu by a Bussian force consisting of eight
infantry battalions, eight squadrons of cavalry, and
eight guns. The attack was delivered so half-
heartedly that it was regarded as nothing more serious
than a reconnaissance in force, but still it aroused
Kuroki's anxiety, as he could not but recognise that
Umezawa was dangerously isolated in the midst of the
most mountainous district of Manchuria. Accordingly
a couple of battalions were sent from the Twelfth
Division to reinforce him. They joined at Pingtaitsu
on September 19th, but hardly had they marched in
when the Russians seemed not only to increase in
numbers immediately in front of that place, but even
began to work round to the east of it, threatening the
important strategical point Penchiho, through which
came all the munitions and supplies for the brigade.
Orders were therefore sent to the General commanding
the old line of communications between the Yalu and
the Twelfth Division to push up any troops he could
lay his hands on, through Chaotao, so as to strengthen
the Penchiho garrison, but just as soon as each pre-
cautionary measure was taken it was met by a more
than corresponding increase in the numbers of the
* Chinese, SankuaiBhihshan, meaning '' Three Great Book Hill.''
174 A Staff Officer's Sobap-Book
Biussians facing and threatening to surround Umezawa.
Kuroki had now done all he could do on the basis of
his own resources. He therefore begged Oyama to
permit the Guards on his left to be relieved by some
other army so as to enable him to concentrate towards
the threatened right or eastern flank.
Oyama consented, and ordered the Fourth Army to
take up the ground to a point five miles east of the
railway, thus releasing the Imperial Quards. Kuroki
was now able to concentrate the Twelfth Division, and
to retire it on Taiyo village, whilst he closed in the
Second Division and the Quards. Thus, on October 1st,
the Guards and Second Division formed the front
line, which ran north-east and south-west for some
five miles along the branch line of railway with its
right resting on the coal mines (see Map XXXIII.).
Three miles behind the right of this line was the
Twelfth Division in reserve at Taiyo, whilst Umezawa
was detached seventeen miles to the north-east at
Pingtaitsu.
The First Army had now shifted the bulk of its
strength considerably nearer to the eastern screen
of mountains behind which trouble seemed to be
brewing, and although, in mere measurement, Umezav^a
appeared to be as much out of touch as ever, yet, in
reality, it was not so, for good roads ran out eastwards
from Taiyo where the whole of the Twelfth Division
lay available and concentrated.
On October 5th, the day I had met General Kuroki
at the Pioneer bridge-building festival, when he and all
his staff had appeared to be so singularly gay and
debonair^ reports from the front had been very disturb-
ing, pointing, as they seemed to do, to some serious
movement on the part of the Russians. So much was
The Armies in Ck)KTACT 175
Kuroki influenced by his sense of an impending danger
that he ordered a brigade and a battery to move
northwards from the neighbourhood of the coal mines
and occupy an important mountain* which lay six
miles distant in that direction.
Next day news came in that the enemy in great
strength had prevented the occupation of the moun-
tain.
Until now strong reconnaissances had never been
seriously opposed, and the denial thus given by the
Russians to a brigade and a battery was considered a
very significant sign.
Precisely at this juncture a fortunate accident put
the whole situation beyond the region of reconnaissance
and smmise. Neai* the Taling Pass (Map XXXIY.) a
Russian staff officer had been kUled in a skirmish, and
on his body were fouud detailed orders by Kuropatkin
to Stakelberg directing him to turn the right wing of
the Japanese and then to march on Liaoyang !
The night of the 6th-7th was therefore spent by the
headquarters of the First Army in anxious deliberation,
and just as the discussion was at its height a
trusted spy arrived reporting that very large bodies of
the enemy had crossed the Hunho on October 4th and
5th, and that a heavy column was also certainly
advancing firom a point, Fushun, twenty-five miles east
of Mukden, directly southwards.
Kuroki's mind was cleared of its last doubt. The
Russian Qrand Army was already well on the move.
A message was instantly despatched to Oyama ex-
plaining the situation, and asking for orders especially
with regard to Umezawa. The answer sent back by
* This was the mountain afterwards called Okasaki-yama.
(Sketch XXIV.)
176 A Staff Officbb's Sceap-Book
Manohiirian Anny Headquarters threw some doubt
upon the reality of the supposed danger.
But General Kuroki did not feel himself absolved
from responsibility by the scepticism of his superiors.
How earnestly should British generals pray that they
may be given his strength of mind in the hour of
need.
Umezawa belonged to the First Army. His situa-
tion was hourly becoming more critical, and Kuroki
felt bound to take the measures he considered neces-
sary for his support. The question of what orders
should be sent him cried for instant decision. For one
hour the problem was eagerly debated. From the
point of view of morcd it would be infinitely preferable
that Umezawa should hold on until the Twelfth Divi-
sion should march out from Taiyo and join hands with
his left. But before Kuroki could take such a decisive
step as to march off the Twelfth Division to support
Umezawa he must have some guarantee that his own
left would, in case of need, be similarly supported by
the other armies. At present these armies refused to
realise the danger. Although their Headquarters had
crossed the Taitsuho on September 14th and 15th, a
large proportion of their troops were still far behind in
the neighbourhood of Liaoyang. If their inaction were to
prolong itself for another twenty-four hours, then, even
with the best will in the world, they might be too late
to support the main body of the First Army, weakened
as it would be by the detachment of a third of its
force. On the whole the risk was too great for an
army commander to take upon himself without orders,
and it was decided not to move the Twelfth Division
on Pingtaitsu.
The next point for consideration was whether
■^•Wi^i^»''-^7W^^F"»"«i^ppwiW^'^^"^wr-^— --w- «i«F>>i • "^mm ■«•■ • »ijK—
The Abmies in Contact 177
Umezawa could podslbly maintain his ground unassisted
for two or three days. It was concluded that he could
not do so. Orders were therefore sent to him to
evacuate Pingtaitsu and to fall back upon Penchiho.
The one consoling feature to set against the disagree-
able necessity of having to direct a man like Umezawa
to retire is that the whole front of the army will be
influenced by this preliminary movement, and that it
will cause the impending battle to be fought six or
seven miles further south and nearer the Japanese base
than would otherwise have been the casa Thus
Stakelberg will probably be inveigled into coming a
long way down into an intricate and broken terrain,
where his heavy field artillery and numerous cavalry
will lose two-thirds of their value in the entanglements
of the mountains.
When Umezawa got his orders he was in contact
with a superior force of the enemy, who were already
beginning to surround him. He was forced, therefore,
to stand fast until the night of the 7th, when he slipped
away most cleverly as soon as it got dark, and got clear
without having a shot fired at him. It is considered
that Umezawa has made a fine opening by extricating
himself so cheaply from the slow Bussians. From the
point of view of morale there is all the difference in the
world between an unmolested retreat and a retreat
before an active pursuit.
I have been given the full orders issued by Kuroki
at 2 A.M. on the 7th, but I shall file them separately.
Their general purport is to the effect that the Twelfth
Division should move firom Taiyo eastwards towards
Penchiho to fall upon the right flank of the two
Bussian divisions who are threatening it and to hold
out a hand to Umezawa, who is endeavouring with
U M
178 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
very meagre resources to save it. The Second Division
are to hold the country in the vicinity of the Yentai coal
mines, and the Guards are to move round their rear and
to concentrate and entrench in the mountains two and
a half miles north-east of Taiyo. The position of the
troops is still generally unchanged since this order was
acted upon. At least, if it has changed I am not to be
told anything more at present. For some reason or
another the Guards and Second Division have
changed round. We now have the Twelfth Division
on the right stretching out as fast as it can towards
Penchiho. The Second Division are on the left a mile
or two north of the Yentai coal mines, and the
Guards are in echelon in the centre a short distance
in rear of the gap between our right and left wings.
Oyama fully realises the situation now, and on the
8th instant he issued the simplest battle order that
has ever perhaps been issued to so great an army.
Here it is :
** The armies will concentrate their forces as much as
possible in their present positions, and be ready to
counter-attack the moment an opportunity arrives."
Taiyo, October 10th, 1904. — At 6.15 a.m. I was
standing at the door of my house when the Second
Cavalry Brigade under Prince Kanin came sounding
down the street. As they trotted past to the musical
clank of steel striking steel I was able to take a good
look at them. The men were well turned out, and
the horses looked in excellent fettle ; they have not
been long in the country. A few of the officers were
conspicuously well mounted. It was raining hard, and
the men were all wearing cloaks and aprons. The
carbine was slung over the cloak, and they had a rolled
tente d'ahri behind the saddle. Under the saddle were
1^ Armies m CoNtAC* 17^
two l3iankets, acfd attached to it t^ere very large
eanvas saddle-bags and a canvas bucket. An officer of
each regiment carried a standard. I hear the brigade
is equipped with machine guiKs^ but I did not see them.
Prince Eanin^ the officer whose looks I admired so
much at Liaoyang, is their leader.
At 7 A.M. I attended with all the military attach^
at Headquarters to hear Colonel Hagino deliver «
short statement on the general situation* His discourse
was interesting, not only to us but to several junior
Japanese staff officers who stood with us, and who also
wrote down the words of wisdom as they fell from the
lips of the Chief of the Intelligence Section* I cannot
imagine to myself an officer of Colonel Hagino's status
in any European army deigning to trouble his head
about a party of foreigners ; still less can I see him
dictating to them a careful little lecture just as a great
battle is commencing. We Europeans and Americans
may not be able to pick up as much information from
irresponsible Japanese individuals as we might collect
from men of our own kidney if we were campaigning
with one another's troops, but I am certain, on the
other hand, that in no army in the world would we
receive as much official assistance in carrying out our
work as we now do with Kuroki's command.
I mark this passage with blue pencil and turn down
the leaf so that I may know where to find an antidote
to my annoyance if ever in future I am again tempted
to rail at petty restrictions and reticences. My out-
burst of gratitude is, it is only fair to add, not entirely
owing to Hagino's lecture. At its conclusion I
received some supplementary explanation of the situa-
tion which proved intensely interesting. As the
informations I received are infinitely more valuable
180 A Staff Offiobr's Sorap-Book
than the little I saw myself, I will write them dowii
first in full and then, if I have time, I can add my own
observations.
It seems that the play is rushing swiftly to its
climax. The Russians are pouring down from the
north, not only straight upon us here at Taiyo, but
also on our comrades to the right hand and the left of
us, as far as our breathless messengers have penetrated.
Up to the present the hostile forces have not joined
battle to our front, but the fighting may begin at any
moment, and so close to us are the Russians that last
night the whole of the First Army stood to its arms in
attack formations.
Umezawa, in the east, is so far bearing the brunt of
the attack and seems to be sorely beset. He and his
brigade would probably be past praying for had the
Russians come down like the wolf on the fold ; had
they developed even a touch of that audacious, head-
long hunger for the fight which has so often been
associated with successful military enterprise. Every-
thing is vague as yet, and it is only certain that on
the night of the 8th Umezawa was in desperate
straits, almost quite surrounded by Stakelberg and
Rennenkampf in greatly superior force, and that he
was practically at their mercy. Had Umezawa gone
under, then Penchiho and Chaotao with their supplies
would also have gone by the board, and Kuroki himself
might have been forced to move south-east with his
whole army to deny the Lentowan ford over the
Taitsuho to an enemy threatening Liaoyang.
Since his retreat from Pingtaitsu, Umezawa has
been holding a lofty range of mountains from the
Tumenling (pass) on the west, via the Taling (pass),
to Penchiho on the east {see Map XXXIV.), where his
«WK^««^WiBP8B5r3^»::.'W5^,.l ' ,_,J'JJ., -U. HJUJK^^I i in. -JiU
-e:~
«w
Thb Abmies in Contact 181
right is well thrown back lapping round and shielding
the town. He is, of course, far too weak for the task,
but he must just do his best until the Twelfth Division
can push far enough east to support him against the
large body of infantry and cavalry who, under the
orders of Stakelberg, are trying to turn his right.
These troops have been more or less in touch with
Umezawa since the 7th, but fortunately the Eussians
only commenced their attack at dawn yesterday, and
then only at Penchiho, into which place Umezawa
had just managed, on the evening of the 8th, to throw
a reinforcement of two battalions and two guns. Still
the position of affairs there must be very critical, if not
desperate, for this morning the bad news has come to
hand that during yesterday afternoon and evening two
important outposts to the Penchiho defence line were
attacked by the Bussians and carried by assault.
Even more threatening is the news about Bennen-
kampf, who has crossed the Taitsuho at Weining and
moved westwards down its left bank, cutting the com-
munications between Penchiho and Chaotao and
threatening the latter important dep6t, which is only
held by some two or three hundred men. The eastern
line of communications is not immediately vital to the
Manchurian Army, as a whole, but Kuroki cannot
afford to lose it, and he has played his last card by
despatching the Cavalry Brigade I have just seen to
press on with all possible speed to Chaotao.
Evidently General Kuroki and his Staff are them-
selves somewhat vague about the progress of events
opposite their right wing. For one thing, they have
no maps, as the captured Bussian maps upon which
they have been mainly dependent until now do not
show the Pingtaitsu or Penchiho country. As one of
182 A Staff Officbr's Scrap-Book
the staff ingenuously declared: ^'Our ideas of the
theatre of war to the north of Liaoyang were bounded
on the east by the Yentai coal mines ; now we begin
too late to realise that on our right hand there extends
a very continent of mountains ! "
Henceforth the British War Office will be able
perhaps to pluck up spirit to defend itself with more
energy when it is attacked by critics who, without too
seriously weighing the financial and political difficul-
ties, have exaggerated its responsibility for the want
of good maps which made itself felt during the earlier
stages of the South African War.
Having wiitten so much I am interrupted by the
loud, booming, double report of the Bussian guns : one,
two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Yes ; certainly
the Bussian guns, and not so far off either.
Two or three miles north of Taiyo I arrived at a big
conical hill due east of the coal mines and just above
them {see Sketch XXXIV.). I thought I had found a
splendid lookout post and began to climb up, leading
my horse by the bridle, but on the summit were Greneral
Nishi and the Staff of the Second Division, who pre-
ferred my room to my company. It seemed a pity to
retire, and so I advanced about three or four himdred
yards beyond them to another likely looking hill over-
looking a brigade of the Second Division artillery who
had dug themselves in very snugly ; luckily for them,
for the shells were bursting over the gun-pits in strings
with a succession of loud reports, raising clouds of
dust about the batteries, but doing no harm to the
men who lay flat under cover and attempted no reply.
Five miles to the north the enemy were advancing.
As &r as I could see^ namely, from Sankwaisekisan, a
little to the west of north, to Shotatsuko to the north-
The Armies m Contact 18S^
eaat, the ground was alive with Bussians {see Sketch
XXIY.). No kaoliung here ; no concealment, and
there stood the Bussians in solid masses — cavalry,
infantry, and guns-formations such as I have not seen
in recent years except upon the parade-ground.
The biggest mass, presumably a brigade, was below
the big hill just due north of Sankashi, and must have
amounted to 5000 or 6000 men in one solid block.
Had the Japanese only possessed one or two of our
South African Long Toms they might have had some
fine shooting into the brown. The movement of such
columns cannot be rapid, but it need not necessarily
be so slow as that of the enemy, who alternated long
halts with very short advances.
Meanwhile, I had leisure to look at the country. I
found myself sitting on a detached conical hill, about
200 feet high. It formed one of the scattered western
outposts of the continent of mountains which stretched
eastwards continuously, ridge upon ridge, and peak
upon peak, as far as the eye could reach. This moun-
tain region has a sharp, distinct edge or ending, just
as an ice floe ends sharply and decisively where it meets
the sea, and to continue the parallel, just as the action
of the water detaches many bergs which float by the
himdred in the close vicinity to the pack and become
rarer, and yet more rare with every mile's distance, so
here the isolated hills become fewer and more scattered
as the eye travels westwards, until, at last, out beyond
the Fourth Army, the spacious plain runs out to the
horizon in monotonous flatness.
Two of our divisions — the Twelfth and the Guards —
and two of our brigades, Umezawa's and Prince
Kanin's Cavalry, are swallowed up in the Switzerland of
the Far East, which lies to the right. The Second
ip«^w^»p^^^^»^T^ipipii^»^^^""-T-''^^ I I IIP
184 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
Division ha43 half of its right brigade entrenched
on Daisan,*' on the very edge of the main mass of
mountains. Daisan is due east of me, two miles distant^
and it is about 600 feet high. The other regiment of
this brigade (Matsunaga's) is at my feet in Kento
village. The brigade of the renowned Okasaki is alto-
gether clear of the mountains, and is entrenched on the
bare plough of the plains, about one mile to the north
of where I am seated, with its left (forming the extreme
left of the First Army), resting on some low hills
some two and a half miles north-west of me. (See
Map XXXIII.)
At mid-day the Bussian artillery became silent. It
had not been able to draw the Japanese guns into
a duel, and I do not think it had done much harm.
By 1 A.M. the Bussian infantry columns along the
Shotatsuko-Sankashi valley had apparently got their
correct intervals, and as heavy storm-clouds spread
athwart the whole horizon ere they discharge their
burden of lightning and of hail, so these dark masses
began a stately deployment into long continuous lines,
which made my heart sink with an impression of re-
sistless strength and of a tremendous impending blow.
This, too, although I tried to reassure myself by
remembering how the eyes of an old Boer would have
danced with joy to see his enemy advancing against
him shoulder to shoulder, and although I knew that
the formation was still far too solid to run the gauntlet
of the Japanese artillery without being shattered in
the attempt.
But now the long lines halted. Strange indecision !
They remained motionless ten minutes; twenty
minutes ; and then I realised that they were entrench-
* Chinese, Tashan or great matin tain.
The Abmiss in Contact 185
ing, out of range of the Japanese! In that one
nioment all anxiety passed away. I cannot explain
the sensation or instinct which possesses me, but there
it is, and I feel possessed of great calmness, and the
full conviction that the Russians have by their failure
to come on, parted for ever with that moral ascendency
which is the greatest of all the asseta of an attack.
At 2.45 an officer's patrol which had been sent out
by Okasaki to get hold of a low ridge east of Hanla-
sanshi,*' about three miles to the north of us {see " V "
Sketch XXIV.), was just anticipated by a superior
force of Russians who, when they topped the crest
line, found themselves within fifty yards of the
retreating Japanese. In their eagerness, the Rus-
sians stood up on the ridge and fired heavily on
the retreating party of some twenty men. These
took to their heels and made record time getting
to some cover 500 or 600 yards in rear — all except
one man. When I first noticed this individual
he was walking far behind his comrades, and at
about 100 yards from the Russians. I thought the
poor fellow was wounded, and kept my glasses upon
him expecting every moment to see him drop. Sud-
denly he did drop ; not as a wounded man but as a
particularly lively skirmisher, behind a little grassy
rise between two fields which gave him a little cover.
Here he opened fire, gaily taking on 100 Russians
at 200 yards range. After a minute or two he got
up again, and under a shower of bullets which threw
up dust puffs all about him, quietly sauntered into a
small plantation some 100 yards further away, where
I lost sight of him. No one was hit ; or, at any
rate, no one fell during the skirmish.
* Chinese, Panlashantsu.
186 A Staff Offigeb's Scrap-Book
After it was all over the Japanese guns opened at
1500 yards range on the ridge but made very bad prac-
tice, both range and Aise being too short. No soldier
of any experience expects anything, even in a small
degree, approximating to target practice accuracy on
the battlefield. In 1879, the 92nd Highlanders were
the best shooting battalion in India, and yet I saw
500 of their men fire three or four rounds each at
one Afghan straggler clambering but slowly up a
steep mountain at 400 yards range without effect.
StiU, I may fi*ankly confess I have never seen any
exhibition of marksmanship quite so deplorable as
the shooting of the Russians on the occasion I have just
described. When it fell dusk I returned to Taiyo rather
disappointed at having seen no serious fighting. I fear
it is my sin to love the noise of war, I do not quite
know, though I often consider, what I shall say when
I am called to answer for it at the long account.
CHAPTER XXVm
OKASAKI'S DASHING ASSAULT
Taiyo, October lltA, 1904. — Guns booming and
rifles volleying and rattling ever since the first grey
streak of dawn. Have got orders that I am tx) par-
ticipate with the others in a lecture Colonel Hagino
is going to give us at 7 a.m., after which I am to
separate from my fiiends and to accompany Kuroki
and the Headquarters Staff who will now take the
field. The other attaches are told off to work under
the orders of that very exclusive body — the Second
Division Headquarters.
8 A.M., CodL Mine Hill. — ^Affcer the lecture I got little
Nakamura, the interpreter, to accompany me here^
where I have found the Headquarters. Kuroki was
seated on a small yellow box belonging to the telephone
section, whose terminal station is within ten yards of
him. On his other side was a bearer section with its
stretchers. The Commanders of the Artillery and
Engineers, Colonel Hagino of the Intelligence, and
Captain Saigo, the Adjutant, were in earnest conversa-
tion with Kuroki, and no other officer but myself was
at that time present on the hilltop.
The great man got up and shook me by the hand,
saying, "It is a very fine day " ; not a very brilliant
remark perhaps, but interesting from its very common -
placeness* Many men would have aimed at saying
188 A Staff Officer's Sobap-Book
something adequate to the momentous occasion, but
about Kuroki there is not even a suspicion of pose.
I said, yes, it was a fine day, and a pity so many
fine fellows should have to die when the world looked
so beautiAil.
He replied, " To die in battle for their country is
good fortune either for Russians or Japanese ; and as
to the fine weather, that is a good preparation for
either life or death, as it has enabled them to snatch
a little repose whilst lying out on the open fields and
mountains all night under arms."
He then spoke the first few words on tactics he
has ever addressed to me. He said, *^ Our infantry
will not advance yet awhile. The enemy has only
fallen back a short distance from before our right at
Penchiho, and I do not like them to fall back any
fui*ther at present. Therefore the Second Division
and the Guards must not alarm them for their com-
munications by a premature advance, and I am going
to let the Fourth Army get into full swing on our
left before we begin to move. The enemy has made
a big attempt to turn our right, and now that his effort
has been brought to a standstill. Marquis Oyama will
perhaps have a chance of turning his right Now
that I have said so much, you as a General will
only need to direct your glasses occasionally to the
westwards and you will be able to discern as well as
I can when we should make our start. How fast
the artillery are shooting ; I must watch them more
closely."
Kuroki then sat down again on his yellow box, and
remained quite quiet except when telephone messages
or orderlies arrived, or when Hagino, map in hand,
consulted with him. Then all the officers I have
OKASAKfs Dashing Assault 189
named squatted down, Indian fashion, in a tiny circle,
and I looked the other way, lest any secrets were being
ventilated.
It is now 8.25 A.M.,and the violence of the cannonade
surprises me even after my Manjuyama experiences.
The Japanese batteries are in the same position as yes-
terday, all except one, which has advanced about
1000 yards during the night, and has dug itself
deeply out of danger's way. A series of rafales are
bursting lust over these guns ; a neat and curious
8ight. si much savage noSe, and nothing to show for
it but the sudden mysterious appearance in the air
over the Japanese battery of a little white balloon, like
the soap bubbles filled with tobacco smoke a kind uncle
used to blow for me when I was a child. Then seven
more balloons all in a line with the first, and so it goes
on. The Japanese artillery is being held under to a
great extent, but when it does fire, the guns are laid
on Sanjoshisan, and the hills immediately to the south
of it, making very good shooting at the crest lines,
which are thickly packed with Bussians. Boom I and
then the long drawn out whirr of the tortured air as
the projectile speeds on to its objective, until at last a
small white doud alights on the top of the distant
mountain. It is still too misty to see veiy much on
the plain.
9.15 A.M. — ^The mist has cleared. I see about a
brigade of Russian artillery towards the bottom of the
long spur which runs out in a north-westerly direction
from Sanjoshisan, and one battery is firing from the
north-east of Terayama. That is to say, I cannot see
the guns — only the flashes of their discharge. But
here, oh, splendid, soul-inspiring spectacle ! Here
comes the infantry at last. Ave Ccesar^ morituri te
190 A Staff Officer's Sorap-Book
scdutant! Two long lines of infantry, arms sloped,
bayonets glistening, marching shoulder to shoulder as
if at a St. Petersburg manoeuvre instead of across the
Shotatsuko valley, whence they pass into tlte low-lying
fields three and a half miles to our front, and are entirely
lost to view. Drums are beating, no doubt, and colours
flying, and every manin that mighty array feels himself a
true hero, but it is lucky that the lines are still just a
little far for the short-ranging Japanese guns, and that
these guns are already pretty weU mastered by the
Russian artillery. It looks as if the Booskis were
coming on in earnest, and if that is so we shaU have a
real bloody battle, and make October 1 1th for evermore
famous. The attackers should have one great advan-
tage, inasmuch as they have already won the artillery
fight. The Japanese gunners now, 10.15 A.M., are
unable to show their noses. Oh, that some of our
rulers could see what I see ! Our guns are as near as
possible on a par with the Japanese guns, and it is
patent — obvious, glaringly obvious — that these have
not a chance in the fair open field against the Russians.''^
10.20. — I have just been told that affairs remain in
a highly critical state at Fenchiho, both in front of the
Twelfth Division and on the right of Umezawa's
Brigade. There is no idea now of the Twelfth
Division &lling, as it was originally intended to £all,
upon the right of Stakelberg at Fenchiho. There are
other equally powerful bodies of Russians threatening
the Tumenling and Taling Passes, and, far from attack-
ing, the Twelfth Division are only hopeful that they
iDB.y by great efforts be enabled to prevent the enemy
penetrating between Fenchiho and the Tentai coal
mines. {See Map XXXIY. as well as Map XXXIII.)
* Modern guns have been iasued to the British Army sinoe this
entry was made. — L H«
Okasaki's Dashzng Assault 191
Stakelberg has a superiority of about six to one
over the defenders of the extreme Japanese right. On
the afternoon and evening of the 9th instant he had
captured two lofty mountains — Mingshan and Shishan,
which overlooked, and, to some extent, gave him a fire
command over the Japanese trenches in front of Pen-
chiho. (iSee Sketch XXX.) Instead of pushing on
instantly and, under cover of the approaching nighty
making use of each of the captured heights as a fulcrum
to break down all further resistance, Stakelberg rested
on his laurels. Then two things happened.
That night three battalions and a mountain battery
of the Twelfth Division, under command of Shimamura,
one of the best Brigadiers in the Army, marched into
Penchiho and gave a fine fillip to the spirit of the
defenders. So much cheer did this reinforcement
bring to their hearts that it was nobly resolved to let
Umezawa's two battalions go back to their own
Brigadier at Taling, where they were badly needed,
whilst Shimamura with 3000 men remained to face
Stakelberg's 15,000.
The second thing took place at 11 a.m. yesterday
morning, up to which hour Stakelberg had been mark-
ing time until the mist should begin to rise. Shima-
mura, on the contrary, thought mist was just what he
wanted to cloak his preparation for a mettlesome enter-
prise, and the very moment it showed signs of lifting
he was ready, and, hurling 500 gallant soldiers at
Shishan, snapped it back from its unsupported garrison
before the enemy's masses could so much as set them-
selves in motion. This dashing feat of arms was per-
formed in full view of both armies, and, like Bobert
the Bruce's historical whack on the casque of Sir
Henry de Bohun, the incident must have exercised a
marked effect on the fortunes of the day. Before
192 A Staff Officer's Scbap-Book
armies close in mortal conflict their souls wrestle with
one another spiritually, and thousands of intelligences
strained to almost superhuman acuteness of discern-
ment seek for some sign, and rarely seek in vain, for it
is the nature of such signs to fulfil themselves.
When Shishan was taken, then, and not till then,
did the giant begin to move, as Stakelberg's slow
columns deploying into line commenced their ponderous
attack. It is still touch and go out there, but the
Headquarters feel more confident now that Shimamura
has got back Shishan, for what that commander grips
he will not be in a hurry to let go.
Another favourable prognosis is that Bennenkampf,
who crossed the Taitsuho at Weining, has not advanced
against Chaotao, where he might almost with impunity
have dealt the First Army a severe blow, but has
turned back northwards to attack or threaten Penchiho
from the south. Between Penchiho and our coal mines
the Russians are still hesitating in front of Umezawa
and the Twelfth Division at the Tumenling and Taling
Passes. They are in enormously superior force, and
had they attacked directly they got into position,
Genei*al Inouye, commanding the Twelfth Division,
would never have dared detach Shimamura to reinforce
Penchiho,
But it is easy to carry this same principle further.
Had the Russians now menacing our main body with
an attack come rushing down impetuously on the 8th
instant, then Kuroki would never have dared despatch
his Twelfth Division out to the east to help Umezawa,
who must have been irremediably lost.
It seems that under our own orders issued at 10 p.m.
last night we ought to be by now a mile or two beyond
the line along which I can now see the Russians
.«^l ^
Okasaki's Dashing Assault 193
manning their shelter trenches. By now, in fact, the
Guards to the east of Daisan mountain should have
fought their way beyond Kamiriuka, and the Second
Division, that is to say, the brigades of Matsunaga on
the right and of Okasaki on the left, should be firmly
fixed upon the height north of Shotatsuko. But here
we are still much on the same line as yesterday. We
are waiting, as a matter of fact, for the Fourth Army
on our left. For Oyama's Manchurian army orders
issued last night say specifically » so I am told, that the
Fourth Army is to make a wheel to the right so as to
drive the enemy off the main Liaoyang-Mukden road
into the mountains. I think, though, that there is
another reason besides the tardy advance of the Fourth
Army to account for the fact that I am still perched on
the coal mine hill when I ought to be five miles to the
north of it, and that reason is to be found in the power
and activity of the Russian artillery.
Whilst I was learning these details and conmiitting
them to paper, an officer had come in from the Second
Division headquarters, who are on a hill close by, to
say that Okasaki was anxious to advance against Tera-
yama, but that he could not get any news of the Fourth
Army on his left, bo I may not have been correct in
what I have just written about the hesitation bemg
mainly due to the Russian guns. Okasaki is in the
low hills two and a half miles to the north-west of us.
An order is being sent back to him, through his
divisional general, saying that General Kuroki can
give him no news, but that he must understand
quite clearly that he is absolutely forbidden to commit
himself in any way until he gets into touch with the
Fourth Army. Unless there is some very ugly
mistake in the whole of the Japanese calculations the
II K
194 A Staff Offioee's Scraf-Book
right of the Fourth Army must be within five miles
of us.
Our position, and the lie of the country to the west
of us, are ideal for the purposes of heliographic commu-
nication. Nothing could be better than a plain dotted
here and there with natural signalling stations in the
shape of detached hills. The sun, too, is shining
gloriously, and we ought, in short, to be in close-knitted
consultation not only with our own conunanders and
with Nodzu of the Fourth Army, but also with Oku
of the Second Army, and with Marshal Oyama and
Manchurian Army Headquarters. But we know
nothing of what is happening outside Matsunaga's
brigade on Daisan to our right and Okasaki's on our
left.*
11 A.M.- — The worst of writing on a battle-field is
the necessity which it entails of constant contradic-
tions. I have just been told that a telephone message
came in from the Guards an hour ago, namely, at 9.40,
saying that Izaki's First Brigade of Guards had cap-
tured a hill, called 242, without fighting, during the
night, whilst Watanabe's Second Brigade had effected
a lodgment at dawn on the southern part of Hill 238.
(See Map XXXIII.) The capture of 238 waa only
effected after hard fighting, although there was no
bayonet work, but only musketry. The Russians became
silhouetted against the sky line at grey dawn, but the
Japanese, who had worked up to close quarters, remained
invisible in the dark valley, so that they had two
to one the best of it. When selecting night positions
* There is a school of thought in Gfermany which deprecates
signalling, as it is thought to lessen the self-reliance of commanders.
But in this case, at any rate, the commanders were most anxious to
communicate with one anotben
Okasaki's Dashing Assault 195
the Japanese are more and more inclining to sacrifice
the advantage of an extensive field of fire for the sake
of forcing the enemy to cross the sky-line in his attack.
Naturally the crest of the ridge is re- occupied directly
it becomes daylight. We had arrived at a similar con-
clusion in the Western Transvaal towards the end of
the South African campaign.^ Major-General Asada,
who has now been promoted from a brigade to com-
mand the Guards Division vice Hasegawa sent to be
Commander-in-Chief in Korea, adds that he cannot
carry out his orders in full or attack the enemy on the
north side of the Kameriuka-Hakashi valley until his
artillery is able to come up to his assistance. About
this time I heard an officer say, but not to me, that it
was too bad of our artillery not to put forth its full
strength now that our infantry was advancing. But the
poor old Japanese batteries are being simply smothered.
The well-beloved guns cannot open their mouths. This
is an exemplar of the weakest point of the Japanese —
the inferiority of their artillery.
Soon after eleven o'clock an exciting message (as I
could see from the faces of the staff) was received, the
purport of which I did not clearly catch. From the
talk of the adjutants it seems as if the enemy might
be preparing to retreat. But notwithstanding very
heavy fire, especially in the mountains immediately to
the east, there is as yet nothing like general advance
on the part of the Japanese.
12.15. — Just had a second cup of tea in a red^lacquer
^ I heard afterwards from Oolonel Hume that in his orders for
the attack, G^eral Watanabe, who had no time to arrange for disr
tinguishing badges, issued the following general instruction to the
battalion commanders : '* Japanese are short, foreigners are tall.
There are no foreign attaches with the brigade to-night, so treat
every tall man you come across as an enemy."
196 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
bowl. The movements of the Russians in the neigh-
bourhoood of Shotatsuko and Terayama have for some
time past seemed strangely undecided. Columns com-
posed of the three arms march sometimes east ; then
counter-march and move north-west; two brigades
hover to the north of Terayama ; and again a brigade
advances from Kamiriuka southwards towards San-
joshisan. The fierceness of the artillery and rifle-fire
continues unabated, and the Russians still keep a firm
grip on Sanjoshisan on our right, and Terayama on our
left. Neither side has any troops now in the open
plain immediately to the north of the coal-mines. It
is the hope of the Japanese that the Russians may be
tempted to push into this vacant space, when they
would be hemmed in and swallowed up very quickly,
but I doubt if they will be quite so accommodating.
1.30 P.M. — ^I have witnessed a scene which I shall
never forget as long as I live. For the last hour,
Matsunaga has been making spirited efforts to reach
Sanjoshisan, and his brave infantry have been stream-
ing like a pack of hounds, now in full cry, now being
badly checked, over the hills between Daisan and their
objective. From my coal-mine hill I cannot see what
is happening on the eastern watershed of these ridges,
but the men working over the western slopes, and all
their actions, stand out as clear as noonday against the
rocky background. {See Sketch XXIV.)
Only two ridges lay between the Japanese and San-
joshisan, but beyond that point they seemed quite
unable to progress. Some time before mid-day Mat-
sunaga reinforced his left from his brigade reserve in
Kento village, and then at last he appeared to gain
strength to press back the enemy a little further. On
the last rounded ridge to the south-west of Sanjoshisan,
Okasaki's Dashing Assault 197
and on one of the spurs running south-west from the
main mountain were about two battalions of Russians,
and they had some reserves dose behind them in a
wood. It was the fire from these battalions which was
stopping Matsunaga's further progress. But now, in
the most dramatic fashion conceivable, one more step
forwards was about to be made. Exactly on the sum-
mit of the rounded knoll (ctiUed " Bayonet Knoll " on
Sketch XXIV.) was an advanced post of some fifty or
sixty Russians in a trench. They were engaged in a
hot fire fight with Matsunaga's men on the southern
prolongation of the same ridge at a range of 200 or 300
yards.
Suddenly I espied a Japanese section of perhaps
twenty-five men darting along, and making their way
in first-class shikari style from cover to cover along the,
to me, fiilly exposed lower slopes of the ridge on which
their enemy was entrenched. The Russian com-
mander had made the fatal mistake of not throwing
out a few men to cover his right flank. There was
some broken ground at the foot of the knoll which
would have given good shelter, and whence a small
detachment could have enfiladed, and prevented the
encircling movement now made by the Japanese.
For these, daring greatly, worked right round and
upwards until they suddenly emerged within fifty
yards of the Russians, and actually in their right rear.
The commander of the Russians drew his sword. He
and all his men quitted their entrenchment and fell on
with the bayonet whilst the detachment of Japanese
rushed in to meet them. Then, just like a football
scrimmage, except for the gleams of steel, the little
mob of brave and desperate fighters worked slowly
over to the northern slope of the knoll, leaving a
198 A Staff Officer's Scbap-Book
trail of prostrate, motionless figures. The Russians
were the more numerous, but help was at hand for the
Japanese, though none came, why I cannot say, for
their adversaries. Matsunaga's main frontal attack
dashed in from the south, and soon all that could be
seen of the late defenders of the knoll was a handful
of poor fellows running with painful slowness in their
long great coats over the open plough. They fled
towards the north-west, becoming fewer and fewer
under the fire of many rifles, which freely took toll of
the survivors even as I looked, horror-stricken and yet
fascinated by the tragedy of such a scene.
A very minor incident perhaps to chronicle so fiiUy
during a great battle. But there is value in small
things just as much as in great. Any impartial
soldier who saw what I saw would have been struck
by the parade-like stiffness and inflexible immobility
of the Russians which condemned them to be passive
spectators of their own impending envelopment and
destruction by the lightning-like initiative of the
indi^dual Japanese soldier. Then, small as was the
affair, it might serve to recall to his memory a Latin
pioverb, and he might wonder if this wm to be merely
a chance example or whether it was a case of ex pede
HercuUm.
2 P.M. — It looks as if Matsunaga's men had shot
their bolt in capturing " Bayonet Knoll." They are
evidently under a very hot fire from the main moun-
tain of Sanjoshisan and from the intervening ground,
and are busy entrenching themselves just behind the
crest line of the ridge they have won. Matsunaga
has sent in to say he is having a terribly rough time,
but his troops must now be within a mile of the
Russiaoi guns at the foot of the spur running north-
■ •« 'w ■■«■■ I HP^HiBvr'^i^WpiHaailVl
Okasaki's Dashing Assault 199
west from Sanjoshisan, so these last also must find
themselves in a difficult position. I have only just heard
that a message came in at 1.7 p.m. from the Guards
saying the enemy was too strong, and that an advance
beyond Hill 238 was impracticable. I can now see a
Bussian company who are trying to work southwards
along the western slopes of Sanjoshisan. They have
got into a ravine which forms a deep, yellow-coloured
scar half-way across the flank of the mountain, and
there they seem to stick. At this time I heard Kuroki
exclaim : "I must insist upon getting clearer informa-
tion about our own troops and those of the enemy."
2.40 P.M. — Beyond Shotatsuko* large columns of
Russians are marching eastwards. They seem in some
confusion, and the Staff declare that they can see
single guns moving with them which is a very good
sign, if true, only I cannot make them out. The woods
and villages are on fire. All looks well.
3 P.M. — The Russians, instead of retreating, have
come out of the burning woods beyond Shotatsuko, in
two extended lines at an interval of 400 yards. Behind
them is yet another line of company columns of sec-
tions. A great battle is being waged to the westwards
by the Second and Fourth Armies*
3.15 P.M. — ^A grave decision has been taken. Okasaki
has been granted permission to attack Terayama^f
When Kuroki heard within an hour from Asada, com-
manding the Guards Division, and Matsunaga, com-
manding the Third Brigade, Second Division, that they
were at the end of their tether, he must have felt
some heaviness of heart on reflecting that, in the
eastern area of combat at Tumenling, Taling, and
* Chinese, Hsiao Takou.
t Terayama is the Japanese for Temple Hill.
200 A Staff Opfiobr's Scrap-Book
Penchiho, the outlook was very black and that his
high hopes of relieving his overmatched right by a
brilliant counter-stroke in the centre had fallen to the
ground. ITiere remained only his extreme left where
Okasaki^ fearless and true, a general good at need if
ever there was one, might still, if qualities of great-
heartedness and resolution would serve, achieve some
exploit by which the soul of the Bussian Commander
might be shaken and daunted. True, it had been
Oyama's intention that the advance of the Manchurian
Army should be by a wheel to the right, and in pur-
suance of this intention the Fourth Army should have
led the way by taking Sankwaisekisan before Okasaki
moved forward. But the intention of a Generalissimo
must sometimes give way to the imperious necessities
of an Army Commander, and as Nodzu * made no sign
and the shadows were growing long, Kuroki, with
what anguish of mind no man will ever know, re-
solved to let slip his great warrior from the leash.
3.40 P.M. — The Bussian artillery at the foot of the
spur running north-west from Sanjoshisan is retiring
one gun at a time. What between high explosive
shell and rifle bullets they must surely have suffered
terrible losses in holding on so long.f A coliunn of
Bussians is certainly retiring over the big hill a little
to the north-west of Shotatsuko| by the same path along
which they made their advance yesterday.
3.45 P.M. — Okasaki's Brigade has begun to move
against Terayama. It is as bad a place almost to
* The Oommander of the Fourth Army.
t Afterwards I went over their position and I doubt if their
casualties were very serious, although they had lost eight or ten
horses. The guns had been in action just behind the crest line and
most of the Japanese shell had passed over them.
t Afterwards called Okasakiyama,
OKASAKfs Dashing Assault 201
attack as was the Boer position at Doomkop by
Johannesburg. Looking, as I do, due north from the
coal-mines, the country lies before me as plain as the
pahn of ray hand, apparently open, flat, plough-land,
unbroken except by a small rocky hill (Japanese
Ishiyama) 2000 yards distant. Carrying the eye
onwards beyond this rocky Hill there is a con-
tinuation of the level plain for 2500 yards as far as
Terayama, although, on closer inspection, it becomes
evident that, about two-thu'ds of the way across the
open, a straggling village called Kokashi, should,
by its orchards and houses, yield some conceal-
ment to an attack advancing from the south. The
hill itself rises less than 100 feet above the plain, and
is about 500 yards long, from north to south. It
seems to be narrow at the top, about the centre of
which stand the Temple buildings. A low ridge,
slightly elevated above the plain, connects Terayama
with the mountains on the north of the Sankashi
valley, which are fall of Russians. Just to the south
and west of the hill is a sunken road, into which
Russian troops have been seen dropping from view
and evidently taking up their line of defence. Indeed,
I can see them even now in places showing themselves
clearly up to their waists notwithstanding the Japanese
shells passing over their heads on to Terayama.
A natural cover such as this sunken road is much
better than any extemporised field-work, inasmuch
as there is no freshly turned-up earth to betray its
existence to the hostile guns. But the Russians have
quite thrown away this advantage by exposing them-
selves to view, not only on first entering the sunken
road, which may have been inevitable, but now, when
from every point of view except that of the Japanese*
202 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
it is most necessary that they should escape detection.
Even as I write the Japanese artillery are beginning
to range on them, and it seems that not even the
instinct of self-preservation can induce the Russian
soldier to grasp the full value of concealment.
The main strength of the Terayama position lies, not
so much in the hillock itself, the long narrow shape of
which, pointing towards the south like an arrow, gives
no breadth for the development of any volume of
musketry upon the Japanese line of advance. Its
strength lies rather in the perfectly flat glacis of 500
or 600 yards, extending unbroken to Kokashi village ;
in the enfilading fire which can be brought upon this
glacis from the Russian gims at Sankwaisekisan, as
well as from a battery to the north of Sankashi, and
most of all, perhaps, in the sunken road I have
described which runs north-westwards, passing within
a few yards of the southern salient of Terayama, and
covering the whole of its western flank.
8 P.M., Taiyo Village. — I was unable to write more
on the field, as T could not afibrd to take my glasses
for even one moment off the most headlong and dash-
ing attack I have ever witnessed. In saying so much
I do not wish to imply that it was a finer attack than
that of the gallant infantry at Elandslaagte and of the
Gordon Highlanders at Doomkop, by Johannesburg,
for that would be impossible, but it was more swift
and on that account more impressive.
A nation which can produce a whole brigade ; that
is to say, two regiments, or six battalions ; every single
individual of which eagerly rushes to seek the bubble
reputation in the cannon's mouth ; not one single indi-
vidual of which is even a laggard, must be a great
nation, and cannot be denied the palm. But I am
OKASAKfs Dashing Assault 203
anticipating. It was about 3.45 of the clock when
the brave Japanese broke cover in one long line and
headed due north. The men were almost shoulder to
shoulder in single rank. The supports followed at
about 200 yards> also in single rank, and behind them
came the reserve in double rank. There was no firing**
The rank and file marched with sloped arms and fixed
bayonets and swung along steadily, almost solenmly,
forward. Many bullets came flying over Kokashi
village from Terayama and struck the plain here and
there like the first heavy, stabbing drops of a coming
thunderstorm, but still Okasaki did not open his
ranks. It was God's mercy that the Russian gunners
held off their shrapnel rafales, or, to speak more
materially, it seemed to be owing to the efforts of
the Japanese artillery that the outburst of the deluge
was fended off for yet a little longer. All along the
front of the Second Division the gunners sweated
and laboured at their task until Terayama was
almost obliterated from the landscape, swathed
around in a pall of inky black smoke from the high
explosive shell. Nor were the enemy's batteries
north-west of Sankwaisekisan and north of Sankashi
forgotten, and so furious and sudden was the fire attack
made upon them that the Russians devoted all their
attention to the Japanese gims, and could not, or, at
any rate, did not, turn upon the infantry.
Now I noticed that the power of Kuroki's artillery
had been augmented, and learnt that the guns of the
Fourth Army had also joined in from their position
on the low hills two and a half miles to the north-west
of where I sat. I cannot tell the number of guns in
action on either side, but certainly those of the
Japanese were the most numerous. In spite of this
204 A Staff Officeb's Scrap-Book
advantage the Russian artUlery slowly wrested back
its superiority, until the fire in support of the attack
again became spasmodic and feeble as heretofore. But
not before it had to a great extent served its purpose.
Okasaki's infantry had reached Kokashi without firing
Ik shot themselves, and without, so far as I could see
suffering any loss at idl from the bullets which had
been raising little puffs and spurts of dust about them
as they advanced. As for the Russian guns, they had
either failed to detect the commencement of the attack,
or else they had been successfully distracted from
their legitimate target by the Japanese bombardment.
It was soon after four o'clock that the Brigade Oka-
saki disappeared into Kokashi and into a village half
a mile to the east of it called West Sankashi. Then
there arose a continuous tearing crepitating sound, not
very loud, and yet sufficient in intensity and volimie
to cause us all to shiver with excitement. To the ear
of a civilian the noise might have awakened comfortable
reflections of frizzling bacon ; to a woman it might
recall the bubbling of her tea kettle. But it stirred my
own blood like the Valkyrie Ritt. It startled me like the
sudden snarl of a wild beast. For I knew that thousands
of rifles had opened magazine fire and were struggling
at from 500 to 600 yards distance for the fire mastery,
that fire mastery which, established by the one side
would render the assault possible ; established by the
other must doom it to disastrous failure. Such sounds
as these, wafted upon the evening breeze, bore
messages of life and death ; more — of victory or defeat
to all who could grasp their significance.
For a long, long time the anguish of anticipation was
spun out to the uttermost. A quarter of an hour
passed, then another quarter of an hour ; the General
Okasaki's Dashing Assault 205
Staff could hardly endure it any longer, but Kuroki
remained confident and calm. Then another ten
minutes. The tension became unendurable. The
setting sun threw its reddish rays slantwise on
Terayama, and showed it smoking like a volcano, but
apparently quite lifeless. We could see the temple
and the plain more clearly even than at mid-day.
" Ah," said Kuroki ; " he cannot get on. To-day we
are stuck fast all along the line.'' In his voice was no
tone of regret, no shade of mortification ; at the most
it could only be said that the actual words betokened
some touch of despondency.
Hardly had he spoken when a sharp exclamation
from an adjutant made me turn my glasses once more
upon the deserted plain, and to my amazement I saw
it, deserted no longer, but covered by a vast, strag-
gling, scattered crowd of individuals, each racing
towards the Russians at his topmost speed. The
Okasaki Brigade was crossing the open to try and
storm Terayama by one supreme effort; and the
only English expression which will convey an idea
of their haste is that phrase of the hunting-field,
** Hell for leather." Bullets fell thick amongst those
who ran for life or death across the plain, and the
yellow dust of their impact on the plough rose in a
doud almost up to the men's knees. By what magic
these bullets almost always struck in the vacant spaces,
and very rarely on the bodies of the men, I cannot
explain, beyond saying that it is ever thus with the
bullets of a bad shooting corps. At the first glance it
seemed as if there was no order or arrangement in
this charge of a brigade over 500 to 600 yards of open
plough. But suddenly I realised that it was not chance
but skill which had distributed the pawns so evenly
206 A Staff Officer's Scraf-Book
over the chess hoard. The crowd, apparently so irre-
gular and so loosely knit together, consisted of great
numbers of sections and half-sections and groups
working independently, but holding well together, each
in one little line under its own officer or non-com-
missioned officer. There was no regular intervaL I
should say that the lateral distance between men was
anything between two and ten paces. The interval
in depth is more difficult to determine, but it is safe
to say that it was rarely less than ten or more than
forty paces.
In certain respects the startling, sudden onsli^ught
of Okasaki's Brigade resembled a Dervish rush, but
with one marked difference, inasmuch as the formation
was not solid but exceedingly flexible and loose, offer-
ing no very vulnerable target even to a machine gun.
The speed was marvellous, and the men got across the
plain more like charging cavalry than ordinary infantry.
Some say that the leading sections paused once to fire.
I did not see this happen. To the best of my observa-
tion the assaulting infantry ran 600 yards without the
semblance of a halt, and as their leading files reached
the sunken road they dashed unhesitatingly into it,
right on to the top of the crouching Bussian infantry !
Next second the Bussians and their assailants were
rushing up Terayama slopes in one confused mob, the
whole mass convulsively working bayonet and bullet
and clubbed rifle as they ran. The hill was carried.
Bravo ! Bravo ! ! Bravo ! ! !
The whole thing was so instantaneous that the
Bussian artillery at Sankwaisekisan did not get to
work until just as the last of the Japanese were clear-
ing off the plain a^d closing in on Terayama. The
gun8 north of Sankashi had fired, but in the agitation
206
over the
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numbers
working
in one 1
mifisionec
should S£
anything
in depth
to say t
forty pa'
In cer*
of Okasf
with one
was not t
ing no V6
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plain moi
Some saj;
I did not
tion the i
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the sunk
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Next sec
rushing u
whole mi
and clubl
Bravo 1 E
The wj
Bussian i
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guns nort
OKAflAKfs Dashing Assault 207
of the moment their shell were Aised too short and
burst high in the air. Their range must have been
over 4000 yards, whereas the Sankwaisekisan guns
cannot have been more than 3500 yards, and were
absolutely in the prolongation of the left flank of the
advance. The actual temple buildings held out for
some ten minutes, and were then carried by the bayonet
But the Russians on the northern section of the hill
were sturdy fellows who resolutely refused to budge.
This is always the way with the Russians. Just when
ft.rth» r«i,L»e -eeL hopd»s they begin to fight
A outrance. Still, so long as the forlorn hope (if a
rearguard may be called a forlorn hope) held on, there
was a door being held open on the hill whereby rein-
forcements could enter. Two Russian battalions
thought of making the attempt. They came down
from the hills to the north looking formidable and bold
until, on their entrance into the zone of conflict being
greeted by a shower of shells, they thought better of
it and sheered off. But their comrades, the little body
left on the hill, still seem to be holding on to the last
comer of the hill, and are making a very gallant
fight of it, not so much, I fancy, in any hope of dis-
lodging the Japanese as for the honour and glory of
the Army and the Czar.
At 5.20 there was a discussion between all the Staff
and Kuroki as to how the troops at Penchiho were to
be fed now that the Cossacks had crossed the Taitsuho
and were interposing between them and Chaotao,
whence, until now, they had drawn their supplies.
The question seemed to be considered very urgent and
important. At 5.30 urgent applications for gun and
rifle ammunition began to come in from all sides, and
there were earnest consultations on the subject.
208 A Staff Officer's Sorap-Book
The Russian guns were now firing heavily into
Okasaki's Brigade on the south part of Terayama,
both from the east and from the west. I left the
coal-mines at 5.45 p.m.
So ends a day filled with the life and death of half
an average life-time. I wonder what are the feelings
which Kuroki conceals behind that impassive mask—
his countenance ? Brilliant as it is^ Okasaki's triumph
is not perhaps considered by him sufficient when he
reflects that no other success has been scored, and that
his right at Penchiho stands still on the brink of ruin.
CHAPTER XXIX
THE BATTLE CONTINUES
CoAL-MiNE Hill, October 12th, 1904, 8 a.m. — Again
from this same hill the marvellous war panorama
spreads out to the same Valkyrie orchestra of cannon
and small arms. But the music is less strident. The
battle is shifting to the north. The Japanese are
holding Sanjoshisan and all the heights south of the
Sankashi-Menkaho vaUey, and have clinched their
hold on Terayama, which belongs to the northern
heights, by digging themselves deeply into the ground.
Before I left Taiyo, at 7 a.m., Colonel Hagino said to
me, " To-day's fighting will be desperate, because the
enemy has now been forced back upon the mountain
tops to the north of the Sankashi valley, and we will
have to delivej our assaults from the low ground."
But I must hasten to add that he seemed rather to
relish than to dread the prospect.
I am now with the Headquarters Staff. The amount
there is to write about is simply bewildering and my
a>ge« are half ftozsn by this'^er, nippujaix fro^
the north.
The first thing I have to do is to knit up to-day
with yesterday by putting down what I have been
told about the eventful night which has just passed.
Terrible fighting was taking place all along the line
II o
210 A Staff Officeb's Scrap-Book
whilst I was comfortably sleeping at Taiyo, and the
results have been on the whole reassuring. Nothing
will ever persuade me that the Headquarters were not
anxious and almost alarmed last night. But if they
had courage and self-restraint to conceal their feelings
from a casual observer (in which category I do not
class myself), their bulletin to the army was even
less calculated to reveal any touch of doubt or
despondency. I quitted the Greneral Staff on this same
spot at 5.30 yesterday evening. By 6 o'clock they
had talked over the situation and had issued the
following orders, which were, I think, considerably
more sanguine than their feelings :
(1) The enemy seems to be retreating on every side.
A detachment from the Second Division will advance
eastwards to attack along the front of the left wing of
the Twelfth Division. The Japanese forces in the
direction of Penchiho are still safe.
(2) I intend to-night to take the line from the east
of Domonshi to the height north of Shotatsuko.
(3) The Guards and the main force of the Second
Division shall continue their advance and carry out
the objects of the First Army.
(4) The Twelfth Division and the Umezawa Brigade
shall continue to carry out previous orders.
(5) The general officer commanding will be at Taiyo
to-night.
The task of carrying out these orders should be
lightened to Okasaki's fifteenth brigade on Terayama
by the fact that the Fourth Army on his left has
made an important advance during the past night and
has captured Sankwaisekisan. General Nodzu * has
then not only made good all his leeway, but has seized
a point some two miles north of Terayama, and to that
* The Oonunander of the Fourth Army.
The Battle Continues 211
extent has taken the lead in the great race to Mukden
between Oyama's generals. An adjutant from the
Fourth Army came up here half an hour ago and has
given some interesting news about this fighting. Sank-
waisekisan is five miles from us, a little to the west of
north, and can be seen very clearly (see Sketch XXV.).
I have also had a good account of the terrain from
Captain Jardine, of the 5th Lancers, who accompanied
the Second Cavalry Brigade on a reconnaissance to the
Three Great Bock Hill (which is the interpretation of
the Chinese name) on the 8th instant. Sankwaisekisan
is not at all unlike Terayama in size or shape, but
difiers inasmuch as it stands alone on the flat plain
with no broken or rising ground worth mentioning
within several thousand yards of it. There are villages
on the plain, it is true, but none nearer than half a
mile except a few houses and walled enclosures
nestling under the eastern flank of Sankwaisekisan
itself The rock rises quite clear and distinct like an
iceberg from the ocean, or, more accurately perhaps,
it might be described as resembling a mediaeval war-
ship sailing due south over a smooth sea of yellowish
plough. The ship is lower in the waist than at the
bows and carries a high-peaked poop. Set in the
centre of the low waist are three buildings, evidently
temples, enclosed by a fairly high wall.
I have described the Three Great Bock Hill* in some
detail, although the exploit of its capture belongs to
another army, and although I do not know very much
about the conditions under which the attack was
delivered. But I am tempted to depart from my
principles by the strong fanuly resemblance between
Terayama, taken by Okasaki yesterday, and Three
Great Bock Hill, taken by the Tenth Division, Fourth
* Sankwaisekioan.
^m^ — »-^^^^i»^^w»"^^w^^w
212 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
. Army, by night attack. Both commanders were
under the obligation to occupy their respective hills,
but Okasaki chose the day, and the commander of the
Tenth Division preferred to await the fall of night.
Looking with a calm and unprejudiced mind at the
groimd from where I sit, I freely confess that I would
have acted as did the commander of the Tenth Division,
and have made my advance across the level plain, if
not in the dead of night, then, at any rate, in the dusk
of evening or the misty grey of the early dawn. But
a Japanese officer of high rank considers that the way
in which these two commanders treated their parallel
problems affords proof of the admirable audacity of
Okasaki, which has been thrown into striking relief by
the want of self-confidence of the captor of Sank-
waisekisan.
All I know of the night attack at present
is that it was carried out by twenty-three battalions,
and that the leading battalions were in single
rank, shoulder to shoulder ; the supports a very short
distance behind in line of section columns.* The
advance began at 1 A.M. and got within 150 yards by
3 A.M. when zhe enemy opened with volleys. The
Japanese did not reply, but crawled on quietly, on
hands and knees, the bullets flying high, as is in-
variably the case at night, unless preparations are
* It transpired afterwards that there were six battalions in the
first line in single rank, shoulder to shoulder. Eight battalions in
support, in line of section columns at close interval, but with fifty
yards interval between battalions, and nine battalions massed in
reserve.
The depth between the first and second Une was fifty yards ; and
150 yards separated the second from the third line. The army
reserve under General Nodzu was one and half miles in rear of the
western flank of the attacking line.^-I» H.
^m^^^^^^m
V I
I J-
5 — 5 *
J I P
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.J
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The Battle Continues 213
made by stretching a string or wire in front of the
defenders' trenches, under which the muzzles of their
rifles can be placed. At 100 yards range, however, the
Japanese could no longer be restrained from firing.
The main part of the Three Bock Hill was captured
by 4.30 A.M. after bloody and desperate fighting, but
the Bussians still held on in places, and defended the
village even after it was blazing. In fact, it is said that
the fighting is not yet quite at an end, and that groups
of desperate Bussians are even now struggling on in
comers amongst the rocks, and refusing all temptations
to surrender. However, to all intents and purposes,
the hill is certainly captured, for I can clearly see the
troops of the Fourth Army swarming about on all
sides of it.
The Fourth Army * have lost 1000 men in this
* The following eztractH from a subsequent conversation with one
of the actors in the night attack make the story more complete :
^' Sankwaiseldsan had been nicknamed by the soldiers oni no uehif
or ' the devil's mansion,' and as our proverb has it that the devil is
a bad person to sup with, and his mansion was to us an unknown
land, we all feasted heartily up to 11 p.m." • . . "The regiment
occupying the Three Bock Hill was a fine corps, with a great reputa-
tion, and they showed great nerve by withholding their fire until we
drew very dose indeed. ... It was the Alexander Third BegimenU
The enemy's dead gave proof that they had freshly arrived from
Europe, as their skins were quite delicate and white, not at all
tanned as yet by the hardships of campaigning. They wore long
frockooats, which were absolutely new and unsoiled, and on their
shoulder straps there was a crown." ..." The enemy still clung to
the rocky parts of the hill and to the temple, and the firing continued
as heavily as ever, more especially from the village. Major-General
Marui, commanding a brigade, was wounded here, and the standard
bearer of the Himeji Regiment was killed. Another officer seized
the standard, and he was also shot. Then Colonel Tasumura, com-
manding the regiment, took it up, and in his turn he fell, being
struck by a bullet from the wall. Thus there was no one left to
command at this point, the colonel of the next regiment being
214 A Staff Officbb's Scrap-Book
attack on Three Rock Hill, and Okasaki has lost an
equal number in the day attack on Temple Hill. But
the majority of Okasaki's losses took place, it seems,
after he had captured the hill and were caused by the
Russian artillery opening from east and west (as I
saw them last evening) on the men who, in delivering
their assault, had closed in on the hill, and then stood
crowded upon it.
It is very difficult, therefore, to argue from the
respective losses suffered or results gained which
further to the east. Then there occurred an incident of some
interest. The adjutant of the brigade met the adjutant of the regi-
ment and discussed the situation with him. They agreed that the
village must be carried at once and at any cost, as a prolongation of
the struggle would result in an excessive number of casualties. So
they called out loudly in the night, ** Is there any one here who will
leap into that village and set it on fire ? " Out dP the darkness came
the reply, ^' I, Oaptain Sumida, will command the troop which is
determined to die ; who will follow me ? " And nearly 200 men
closed in to his call and put themselves under his orders. All of the
leading men were shot or bayonetted from behind the wall as they
came up to it, but others managed to dimb it and set fire to several
houses. Amongst these houses they found a wounded lieutenant-
colonel of the enemy, who was so badly hit that he could only stand
with difficulty when he was put upon his feet. They told him that
the whole Division was now round the village, and that one part was
taken and another part in flames, so that he should go to the comer
where fighting was still going on and order his men to surrender.
He refused however, saying, ' I have orders to hold the village to the
last, and therefore cannot surrender ! ' Near by they captured a
non-commissioned officer, and said the same to him. He went into
the village and spoke loudly to his men. At the same time the
houses took fire. Whether it was because of the confiagration or
from what the non-commissioned officer told his men, we cannot say,
but the Bussian firing from the village ceased. At 5 a.m. the
Russians were still to be found in places. They fought bravely ; in
fact, some remained hidden in the temple caves and crannies of the
rocks, and even in the Chinese water jars, and fired when the
Japanese soldiers approached.**
The Battl» Continues 215
method — the day or the night attack — ^proved most
successful. The highly-placed critic I have quoted
seems very confident that Okasaki is to be praised for
having staked all on a bold attack in broad daylight.
So be it. But war is an uncertain game, and it seems
to me that a couple of machine guns on Terayama
and a quick, capable battery commander at Sankwai-
sekisan might have changed the verdict which will
now probably be pronoimced by history, and have
handed down Okasaki to posterity as having been over
confident, whilst the prudence of the Fourth Army
Commander would have been held up as an example
to be commended.
One more point before I quit Terayama. In former
wars I have, in common I suppose with other com-
manders of any experience, often had occasion to long
for cavalry to launch at the enemy during some crisis
of the struggle. Throughout the Manchurian campaign
such a thought has hitherto never once occurred to me.
Neither infantry has the slightest idea of permitting
itself to be hustled by mounted men, and it has been
apparent to the meanest military capacity that the
cavalry could not influence the fighting one way or
another except by getting off their horses and using
their rifles. But yesterday, when I saw Okasaki's men
streaming across the plain, in what I might call ordered
disorder, the whole of each individual's faculties and
energies concentrated on the enemy in front, I felt for
the first time that a few Bussian squadrons, adroitly
led to within half a mile of the left flank of the charg-
ing Japanese might, by a combination of good luck and
good guidance, have struck Okasaki's Brigade a
staggering blow whilst it was straining every nerve
and muscle in mid career against the rival infantry.
216 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
Obviously mere bravery and dash would not have
sufficed for the commander of such a fire-eating venture.
To succeed he must have been a man who
was capable of keeping his cool touch on the
fevered pulse-beats of opportunity until he felt the
fateful second had arrived ; then, flinging caution and
judgment to the winds he must have had a big
heart, iron nerve, and the devotion of his men to
enable him to spur out of his ambush full tilt, not
alone, but followed, as if he were a queen bee leading
her swarm, by all his galloping squadrons. A rare
type of man, and that is one reason amongst many why
successful cavalry charges were not exactly of every
day occurrence, even in muzzle-loading days.
My only excuse for this excursion into the misty
realms of might-have-been is that all yesterday it
was positively painfiil to see masses of Russian cavalry
sitting idle in their saddles looking on whilst their
infantry and guns were fighting so hard and so weU
that it seemed as if even a few hundred carbines or
rifles must have sufficed to turn the scale.
To return to Okasaki. That best and cheeriest of
Brigadiers has been busy all night improving upon his
success of yesterday evening. The capture of Tera-
yama was not fiilly completed until midnight as, after
dark, there were two Bussian counter-attacks, which
were easily repulsed, although if they had come on
whilst some of the garrison was still holding out on
the northern point of the ridge, they might have been
exceedingly dangerous. There was also a good deal
of desultory fighting between a Russian regiment,
which advanced westwards from Sankashi as it grew
dusk with a band playing at its head, and the 29th
Begiment of the Second Division. This combat also
mm^^'^^^'m-.^-^r^^^^m^mmmf^mw^mm'mmmmf^m^^tl^m^^^lf^l^^^mt^i^mmir^mmtfm^^fBm
The Battlb Continues 217
ceased about midnight, apparently by mutual con-
sent.
By 4 A.M. Okasaki's Brigade was concentrated in
Sankashi village and started off to attack the round
hill called Suribachiyama * by the Japanese, who do
not display much more originality than the Boers in
their nomenclature of their landmarks. His men were
just in the nick of time to anticipate the Russians who
were marching up in the darkness from the western
valley and some sharp fighting ensued in which the
Japanese, being in possession of the crest line, had the
advantage. Meanwhile, the 30th Eegiment, which had
been detached to capture Nanzan, had taken it without
trouble {see Sketch XXVI.). At dawn they had handed
over their prize to the Fourth Army and marched round
in a south-easterly direction to take post in rear of the
centre of their own brigade, t The highest mountain of
the group, due north of Suribachiyama is still in the
hands of the Russians, but every one hopes that
Okasaki will soon have gained possession of it. He
has now taken all the outworks of this mountain ;
Terayama on the south, Nanzan on the west, the rocky
ridge and saddle on the west and south-west, and
Suribachiyama on the south. There is only the one
parent mountain left, and then, according to the
opinion of the officers here, we ought to have a clear
run in northwards. With luck we may then cut off
the enemy who, under Stakelberg, are still causing
* '* Rioe Morfcar Hill," a name also given to one of the moat im-
portant points in the Russian defensive line on the North bank of
the Yalu. See Vol. I.
t This small plan gives a better idea than any description of the
precise situation at the hour these notes were written, namely,
between 9 and 10 a.m. The Bussians on the hill north of Suribachi-
yama, afterwards called Okasakiyama, were supported by comrades
218 A Staff Opficee'b Sc&Af-BooK
every one a great deal of anxiety concerning Fenchiho
and our right flank.
Due north of our coal mine hill then the battle i^
assuming a most favourable complexion. North-east
the prospects seem equally fair. Matsunaga, whose
Third Brigade of the Second Division seemed so com-
pletely brought to a standstill wheu I quitted the field
last night, has now carried the great and formidable
mountain of Sanjoshisan. The assault was made at
7 o'clock last night, and he did not win undisturbed
possession until afler a series of dubious and bloody
encounters which endured until 1 A.U. At dawn he
descended the northern slopes of Sanjoshisan, and is
holding a village on the southern edge of the
Kamiriuka valley. He is now under orders to cross
the open and attack the enemy lining the opposite
on Round Top Hill and by batteries nortb-e&at of Shotatsuko and
between Sekibioshi and Hamataog. In fact, they were so strongly
fixed in their poBition that Okasaki did not dare tackle it until he
oonld get more help from his artillery, and no further progrese was
made in thia part of the field during October 12.
The Battle Continubs 219
hills. Verily the Japanese Commanders* do not
hesitate to make calls upon the endurance of their
troops. Matsunaga's brigade had stood to its arms all
the night of the lOth-llth ; on the 11th it had been
the whole day under fire, and had been very hard put
to it to hold its own ; it had carried the combat on
into the next night and had stormed a formidable
mountain, stubbornly held. Now, the hardly tried
brigade was to advance across a valley even more open
and spacious than that traversed by Okasaki yesterday,
and to dislodge the Russians lining the opposite hills ;
surely as difficult and dangerous a task as any soldier
has ever been asked to undertake.
At 8.35 a message was brought in by an orderly
from General Asada, Commanding the Guards Division.
In it he announced that his left brigade under General
Watanabe had as good as taken — " surely took," was
the exact expression — ^the northern continuation of
Hill 238 as well as Hakashi village. The message had
been despatched at 6.30 A.H.
At 9.15 an adjutant of Asada's arrived with con-
firmatory information. He had left his General at
about half past seven. He bears the good news of how
Watanabe carried the Bussian position opposite him by
a combined frontal and flanking movement. It seems
that at 2.30 A.M. Watanabe sent off the 4th Guards
Regiment to make a circuitous march eastwards and
debouch on to the big Kamiriuka vaUey, where they
* This order may seem to clash with the orders issued yesterday
evening at 6 p.m., under which MatsuDaga was to move eastwards
along the front of the left wing of the Twelfth Division. But it was
obviously impossible to move down the Kamiriuka valley eastwards
until the enemy had been cleared out of the valley itself as well as
from the lower slopes of the mountains on the north which
completely commanded it.
220 A Staff Officer's Sorap-Book
were to capture the village of Hakashi, and thus
threaten the retreat of the Russians who were about to
be attacked by the other regiments of the brigade.*'
This regiment (the 3rd Guards) advanced at the same
hour, 2.30 A.M.y to drive the Russians out of the
position which they had held all the previous day on
the prolongation of the ridge 238. The point marked
238 (see Map XXXIII.) is the southern extremity of
a long razor-backed ridge running north and south.
The Russians were holding a position across the
ridge with their flanks well thrown back, and were
only some 300 or 400 yards distant from Watanabe
when he started the 3rd Guards to attack them.
* As I subflequently learnt, Lieutenant-Oolonel lida*, commanding
the 4th Regiment, marched off as ordered, but got hung up and
delayed by some bad ground. Before he could extricate himself,
fighting broke out between the ^rd Regiment and the Russians on
the ridge immediately west of him, and random bullets wounded
some of his men. Not wishing to be drawn into the engage-
ment, he edged more away to the east and by 4.80 in the
morning debouched into the broad and level Kamiriuka valley.
He now formed his battalions into line of section columns at twenty
yards interval between companies, with one company in reserve,
100 yards in rear. In this formation he approached Hakashi
when about fifty Russians charged out at top speed, cheering, and in
the half light got within twenty yards of the 4th Guards before
they discovered their strength. They then turned and ran back to
Hakashi village for their lives, pursued by the whole of the 4th
Guards, who, obeying an uncontrollable impulse, raised a mighty
shout and pressed into the village at their heels, fiy the time the
village was taken it was daylight and a company of Russians on a
spur above it opened fire. The Japanese did not reply, but stormed
the spur with the bayonet. lieutenant-Colonel lida now noticed
fugitives from the direction of 238 crossing the valley to the west.
Accordingly^ he advanced dose up to the village of Kamiriuka and,
forming line facing west, he opened a heavy, long range fire on the
fngitLves from 288 and from Hachimaki Yama, killing large numbers
of them.
The Battle Continues 221
One battalion * moved down the valley to the east of
the heights held by the enemy with orders to turn
westwards up the steep hillside as soon as they got
level with their position. It was hoped that they
would thus be enabled to turn the left flank of the
Russians. Simultaneously another battalion was
directed to bear right down upon the enemy in two
parallel columns of route by fours. The columns
moved northwards on either side of the very narrow
crest line, and were not more than forty or fifty yards
apart. The head of each colmnn of route was covered
by one section moving in single rank a few yards in
advance of it. When the covering section got within
100 yards of the enemy they were fired upon, and then
the columns deployed and returned the fire. The
young officer says that at one time no one knew how
the fight was going to end. There was terrible con-
fusion, and the company commanders had lost control
over their men who were broken up into groups firing
in every direction, whilst Russians, as well as Japanese,
were rushing about anywhere and anyhow with their
bayonets at the charge. I can imagine that in a mdlee
of such a description the Japanese would be more at
home than any European, and that once the Russians
broke their ranks their fate must have been sealed.
It will be weeks probably before I get any authentic,
or at least authorised, account of the action, but I
find more and more as I go on the value of a note put
down upon the spot.t
* I heard afterwards that the fonnaiion adopted by this battalion
was line of oompanies in section columns with one company as
reserve fifty yards in rear.
t As I bad correctly surmised, I heard no more about Watanabe's
attack until long afterwards, and so, to make the story complete, I
add a few extracts from entries made on a subsequent date. Colonel
222 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
At 10.15 a &iend on the staff found leisure to come
and have a short talk. He said, '' I never have the
courage to bring to your Excellency anjrthing but good
news, as you always write down whatever I say, and
it is a sore trial to see misfortunes chronicled in the
note-book of a friend." I replied, "With such an
army as Kuroki's First Army I do not think you
Hume, attached to the Guards Division, is my principal authority.
In the attack made by the drd Guards Regiment on the RussiEOis
holding the ridge to the north of 288, the battalion which moved
down the eastern valley, and then marched westwards up the ridge
endeavouring to turn the enemy's left flank, bore the brunt of the
fighting. The battalion only consisted of three companies, one com-
pany being brigade reserve. As soon as their leader began to dimb
the ridge he was fired into at a range of less than 100 yards. There-
upon an order was given to the two leading columns of sections to
deploy into line, the reserve company remaining in column. After
firing three volleys the Japanese charged with the bayonet, but were
repulsed after a severe struggle. The men fell back just below the
shelter of the steep crest-line and waited at about ten paces distance
from the Russians to recover themselves for a fresh effort. The
reserve company was brought up to reinforce the centre, and then a
second charge was made. This attempt also was repulsed after a
peculiarly bitter and prolonged fight with bayonets and hand
grenades. The Japanese say that never since their Civil War have
they been met with equal determination. One section had been
kept in hand to guard the right flank, and now it was withdrawn
and sent in to reinforce the centre. It was the last chance, but it
was successful. The whole line rose like one man and charged with
a great shout, when the enemy gave way. The Japanese here lost
ten oflicers and 200 men out of a total of about 600.
The 4th Guards battalion which advanced on either side of the
crest line of the ridge, in double column of route by fours, was not
so roughly handled, as it arrived after at least one charge had already
been delivered by the 3rd Guards.
A feature of the fight was the Japanese trick of climbing up
quietly under the steep crest and seizing the projecting Bussian rifle
from which they wrenched the bayonet. There were several cases
here of Russians and Japanese who had simultaneously transfixed
The Battle Continues 223
need fear that my note-book will be anjrthing but
a consistent record of success." From the conversa-
tion which ensued, I gather that Kuroki is in
high spirits. He is specially delighted with the
Guards ; not so much because of the victorious assault
of Watanabe's brigade on the left, with which I have
just been occupying myself, as with the unopposed
advance of their right brigade, under Major-General
Izaki, to a position which threatens the retreat of the
enemy in front of the Second^Division. The destination
of this column had been the hill north of Menkaho,
which is called Sanjoshi Tama."*^ The order issued to it
was coupled, however, with a caution to keep touch
with Watanabe's brigade. As, however, Watanabe
was delayed by the obstinate resistance of the Rus-
sians, and as Izaki encountered no opposition, the
latter had to elect, after reaching Menkaho, whether
he would hang back to keep touch with Watanabe or
press forward to Sanjoshi Yama. He chose the latter
alternative and occupied Sanjoshi Yama by daybreak,
and by doing so, of course, lost all touch with Watanabe
who had not yet occupied Hakashi. He is now
advancing to a fresh position just north of Kokorinsan
and Bajisan, and if the enemy in front of us do not
make haste and retire, there seems to be a good chance
that they may get caught.
one another on their bayonets. I remember the same thing happen-
ing in the Afghan War. The dead Japanese and Russians lay,
for the most part, in two distinct lines less than ten yards
apart.
The BoBsian trenches were not worthy of the name, being merely
slight scrapings along the crest-line involving ten minutes work.
Had their entrenchments been more thorough, it is very doubtful if
Watanabe could have succeeded.
* To be distinguished from Sanjoshisan. Sw Map XXXIII.
224 A Stapf Officer's Scrap-Book
At this moment our talk was interrupted by the
sending of a message^ which was for a Japanese almost
an angry message, to the artillery to our front to
open a heavier fire. Captain Saigo simply flew down
the hill with this order. My friend then resumed,
^^The enemy are decidedly beginning to fisdl back
upon Mukden ; we are annoyed because the commanders,
and especially the guns, are too cautious in pressing their
advantage. We can plainly see the commencement of
the retirement, but brigadiers are slow to grasp the situa-
tion, and the artillery are worse. Here are the Bussian
batteries by Benkwasan and Domonshi firing freely at
Matsunaga's brigade, and our artillery does not bestir
itself I " I asked if I was correct in my conclusion that
the Japanese guns were overmatched yesterday. The
reply was to the effect that the artillery had fully
expected Matsunaga would have captured Sanjoshisan
mountain before daylight, and had got out of their gun-
pits and taken up a position in the open on that sup-
position. When they found that Sanjoshisan was still
in Bussian hands, they had to get back into their gun-
pits, a proceeding which took them a long time.
" However," continued my mentor, " that is no suffi-
cient excuse. We had seven batteries of field guns
here yesterday, and if they had been boldly and wisely
handled they ought to have been able to have accom-
plished something considerable. Okasaki yesterday
lost over 1000 men ; Matsunaga over 600, and I verily
believe that a smarter and bolder use of our artillery
might have saved us many of these casualtiea The
Twelfth Division and Umezawa's brigade have been
having even more desperate fighting than Okasaki
and Matsimaga. They have lost 1800 men or
thereabouts, but I will tell you about this later on."
The Battlb Continues 225
There is no doubt that the Japanese guns are so deeply
dug into the ground that they have become ahnost as
immobile as guns of position. They take &r too long
in getting in or out of their pits, and I think the habit
of entrenching imposed upon them by the superiority
of the Bussian artillery is tending to lessen their initia-
tive and audacity.
At 10.40 a junior staff officer came and spoke to me
most kindly, giving me his views on the situation. He
is very hopeful that we will succeed in capturing the
Russian guns to the north of Shotatsuko. He points
out to me that the Fourth Army on Nanzan is now due
^ of them : that »Ut»n.g.%riU be within dK»ting
distance to the south-west of them as soon as he suc-
ceeds (as no one seems to doubt he will) in crossing the
valley, and that Watanabe's Guards are due east of
these guns, whilst the Guards* right brigade under Izaki
are actually to the north-east of them. In fact, with
any luck, Matsunaga's attack, when it comes off, will
throw the Russians right into the arms of Izaki's brigade
of Guards, who are by now probably at Bajisan, whence
they can easily move across to Renkwasan, and thus
capture not only the guns, but also, very likely, the
bulk of the infantry. My informant seems to feel
that the Japanese artillery is not doing as much as
it might do. He has a strong theory that the guns
of the defence must employ direct fire. Otherwise
he does not think they can coiTOct range and fuse
quickly enough to cope with a sudden and rapid
advance. On the other hand, he thinks the guns of
the attack, when opposed by artillery, must always
fire indirect. They have no difficulty about rapid changes
of range, as the defence line remains stationary, and
II p
226 A Staff Officbb's Sceap-Book
if they attempt to come into action within view of
quick-firing artillery already in action, they would be
destroyed before they could fire a shot. The theory
is plausible. I must think about it.
11 A.M. — For the past hour, including all the time
my friends have been speaking to me, a brigade
of the Second Division's artillery, posted east of
Hanlasanshi, and two batteries belonging to the
Guards in action near Hakashi, have been expending
much ammunition in their efforts (not suflficiently
strenuous according to Headquarters) to silence the
Bussian guns. They have succeeded in overpowering
one battery to the north of Shotatsuko, but the remain-
ing guns, posted near Renkwasan and Domonshi, are
not only unsUenced, but cannot be diverted from firing
at Matsunaga's brigade, concealed in the village of
Senkiujo. (Map XXXIII.) Senkiujo is hidden fi'om
my view by the mountain of Sanjoshisan, but I am
told there are numerous walls and ditches and houses
which should afford good cover until the moment
comes when they must emulate Okasaki's Terayama
exploit and make their effort across the broad
Kamiriuka valley.
Whenever there was a moment's pause in the duU
roar of the cannonade, I could clearly catch the far-off,
insistent, drumming: undertone which told me that
long lini of riflemen were striving for the mastery,
and that yet another great moment was approaching.
For magazine fire cannot go on indefinitely, and so,
sure enough, at half-past eleven o'clock, Matsunaga
made up his mind to sUp his men from the leash and
fietce the opeii plain. I am actually cold-bloodedly
siting ..'l ^tch the brigade dihing «r«« tZ
The Battle Continues 227
valley. I could nob have done so much yesterday, but
custom aids coolness. The right and centre of his
attack is to a great extent concealed from me by San-
joshisan, but I can see the left almost as clearly as I
saw the assault of Terayama yesterday evening. The
formations are much the same ; that is to say, there
appear to be no regular intervals or alignment, each
man running on the devil-take-the-hindmost principle^
and concentrating all his energies on being the first to
reach the enemy's trenches. The Russian artillery
have been firing indirect at a range of some 5000 yards
upon Senkiujo village, and agfain, as yesterday, they are
much too slow in s^tching on to the attackbg Japa-
nese, and continue to send shell over their head (pre-
Bxunably into the village which I cannot see) long after
they have got well out into the open. Even now —
11.35 — ^when they do change their objective, the
shrapnel usually bursts too high and is too scattered to
be very destructive. On one particular spot, however,
range and fuse have been corrected with some accu-
racy, and, as if acting on their own initiative, but
probably in consequence of orders previously given,
the little running groups gave this danger zone a
wide berth by closing in to the right hand and to the
left.
It strikes me that the character of this assault is
even more completely individualistic than in Okasaki's
attack of yesterday. I can see great numbers of men
fall, presmnably to fire or to get breath (as I do not
think it possible that so many can have been hit), and
yet I never notice a group or section halt and lie down
together. It is difBcult to be sure, as the moment a
man lies motionless I lose sight of him, but I think the
228 A Staff Officeb's Scrap-Book
bulk of those who drop * down so suddenly must rise
again very shoij^ly to resume their advance. Other-
wise, there would be gaps in the scattered crowd,
whereas the men composing it still remain, on the
whole, very evenly distributed. My belief is that the
men are covering the half-mile of distance which
separates them from their enemy in several rushes,
but that each man chooses his own moment for the
halt.
11.45. — ^I am sure now that Matsunaga is not
attempting to cross the valley in one tremendous
rush. If it were so he would have been in the
Bussian trenches ere now, or else in full retreat,
whereas he has not yet made his effort and is only
two-thirds of the way across. The firing is very
heavy.
11.50. — ^The foremost of the Japanese are lying
down firing at about 250 yards from the Bussian
trenches, which are on a knoll just north of the
village of Zenshotatsuko. {See Sketch XXIV.)
Others are joining them, and now, for the first time,
the attack presents the normal appearance of a fairly
thick firing line with a loose supporting body, I can
hardly call it a line, some 200 yards in rear.
11.55. — The whole of the firing line has risen like
one man and made the charge. Simultaneously the
Bussians are clearing out and falling back with some
precipitation on to the main ridge.
11.57. — The Japanese are now swarming like an
army of ants over and around the knoll of Zenshotat-
suko. Matsunaga has effected his lodgment on the
* The losses only amounted to 285, so it is not possible tliat anj
large proportion of the men who seemed to fall on October 12th
were hit. — I. H.
SCENF Of
HAM D TO HAND flOHTIttO
rSIAWS AT DAWM OCT. 1**^
5s
Battle of the
\ YAM A THE RIGBT OF THE JAPANE
HAND TO HAND FIGHTING TOOK PL.
XXVIIl
The Battle Continues 229
hills to the north of the Kamriuka valley. One more
mighty step forward has been made I *
* I wrote this description actually on the spot as I saw it. Long
afterwards I saw Matsnnaga and he informed me that hisattack was
normal, except that he had forty yards interval between companies
instead of six yards. He had, so he says, two battalions in the first
line ; the men at three paces interval, and the interval between com-
panies already mentioned. At 1500 yards he halted seven minutes,
and then advanced as fast as the men could run to 800 yards.
During this period there was no check and hardly any firing. At
800 yards the line lay down, and opened magazine fire for two
minutes. From thence onwards he advanced by rushes of companies.
First right ; next left ; then centre double company. Between 800
yards and the position the supports doubled up and reinforced whilst
the reserves closed in. At 250 yards from the position there was a
slight check for half a minute, when the charge was sounded and the
knoll was rushed with the bayonet.
No doubt Matsunaga is correct as to the orders issued, but the
impression I received was one of far greater dispersion, depth and
irregularity. I only saw the advance from 800 yards onwards, and
then only the left di the line. — I. H.
CHAPTER XXX
OTA'S SUN-FLAG
Midday. — General Kuroki is breakfasting together
with His Imperial Highness Prince Kuni. All the
Headquarters are in high glee ; even, for them, quite
boisterous.
12.45 P.M. — I have had another conversation with
an officer who has come to sit by my side and is in
great spirits. He says that an order has just been
sent to Matsunaga bearing General Kuroki's con-
gratulations, and directing him to march east as
rapidly as possible and occupy the pass at ChosenreL
(See Maps XXXIII. and XXXIV.). If he can succeed,
he will then find himself within eight and a half miles
of the line of retreat of the enemy under Stakelberg
and Bennenkampf, who are still making the most
determined attempts to carry the Penchiho defences or
to break through the Japanese lines by the Taling or
Tumenling Passes between Penchiho and the coal mines.
Nothing will bring these Bussians back so rapidly as a
good thrust by Matsunaga at their line of conmiunica-
tions (just as the head of a snake must perforce shoot
swiftly round the instant an enemy stamps upon its
tail). My firiend went on to say, " The heaviest of
the fighting has taken place at Penchiho, where Major
Honda and his small force have been winning great
glory. Yesterday morning the Bussians delivered a
fierce assault under a covering fire from our captured
3 i
i
1
Ota's Sun-flag 231
outpost of Mingshan, which lies within eaay rifle shot
south-eaat and commands that part of our line. The
Russians kept trying to close with the bayonet, but
Major Honda's battalion was just able, and no more,
to keep them off with fire. Had it not been for the
enemy on Mingshan, who were fi^ee during the conflict
to fire directly down into the trenches, our losses
would have been trifling. As it is, they have been
very severe, but now, this morning, the bulk of the
Twelfth Division and of Umezawa's brigade have
arrived as reinforcements, and by working tooth and
nail throughout the night our entrenchments are
completed. It is well that it is so, for we have just
got a despatch giving us some particulars of the
greatest assault yet delivered, which took place this
morning at 4 A.M. The Russians made their main
attack at the very same spot, under protection of the
covering fire from Mingshan, and lucky it was that
instead of Honda's one weak battalion we had four
strong, fresh battalions ready to receive them, behind
good solid fortifications which had been finished just in
the nick of time. For the enemy have never befoi'e,
not even at Manjuyama, made so brave an effort.
Above all, their officers behaved nobly and led the
men on, running out well to the front and waving
their swords to encourage the rank and file. But it
was no use, for the assaulting formations were too
solid to stand against our deployed line, awaiting them
behind a well - constructed parapet. The Russian
battalions were in quarter column, and only about
one-eighth of their men could have used their rifles
had they wished to do so, but as a matter of fact they
trusted almost entirely to the bayonet."
Such a conflict calls to mind the advance of the
Old Guard at Waterloo, and it seems dear that many
232 A Staff Offigbb's Sgrap-Book
of the Bussian Corps still consider a rifle rather as a
convenient staff on which to fix a bayonet than as the
deadliest invention and prop of civilisation. Who
can read Milton's '' Paradise Lost'' without wondering
what would have been the result of the conflict
between the embattled Seraphim if, instead of those
" hollow engines," long and round, charged with old-
feshioned blax^k powder, Lucifer had suddenly unveiled
200 quick-firing, smokeless IS^ pounders. Because
Japanese as well as Bussians occasionally like to
revert to cold steel, do not let it be forgotten that
Suvaroff s saying must now be reversed and that it is
the bullet which invariably makes a fool of the bayonet
provided only th, «ggi i. pdled by . prjtiarf
marksman.*
Continuing, my friend told me that the latest news
from Penchiho was to the effect that the fury of the
fighting had for the time being abated. There was,
however, desperate work on hand both at the Taling
and Tumenling Passes. At three this morning a
regiment of Bussians approached the Taling in close
formation, but were easily repulsed by the fire of two
guns when they got within 400 or 500 yards of the
trenches. At 5 A. M. a regiment, perhaps the same
regiment, attacked a table-topped hill f 300 yards in
advance of the Japanese position, which it slightly
commanded. The summit was held by an outpost of one
company, and at the foot of the hill was the battalion
* Phrases have much to answer for. Often things only contain a
half-truth when fresh ooined, and in oourse of time these half-tmths
are apt to become wholly false. It seems to me sometimes as if this
childish nonsense about the bullet being a fool has been as much
responsible for the misfortunes of Eussia as all her bad diplomacy
and unsound strategy put together. — I. H.
t Galled afterwards Qunki Tama, or Standard Hill. See Sketches
XXXL and XXXII.— I. H.
Ota's Sun-flag 233
commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Ota, with a reserve of
another company and the regimental standard.
Lieutenant-Colonel Ota's adjutant had previously
heen adjutant at the Military College, and was well
known, therefore, in the army, and it was he who,
hearing heavy musketry just before dawn, ran up to
the top of the hill to try and discover the cause of the
alarm. On gaining the summit he saw what he took
to be a line of his own men showing up against the
sky-line, and got within thirty yards of them before
he discovered that they were Russians.. Hastily
retreating, he informed his Commander that the out-
post had been overwhelmed, and that the position was
in the hands of the enemy. Dawn was now breaking,
and disclosed the survivors of the outpost company
still standing at bay half-way down the hill and
exchanging fire with the Russians on the crest-line.
Taking the standard in his hand, Lieutenant-Colonel
Ota advanced to reinforce the remnant of his first
company. At the same time two Japanese guns,
which had been kept back in rear for safety's sake
during the night, had resumed their day position on
another mountain top only 700 yards distant to the
north-west of the pass. From thence, at a range of
700 yards, they blazed away point blank with shrap-
nel, sweeping the confined space afforded by the cap-
tured hill-top, upon which a whole Russian battalion
was now crowded together. But Ota had no idea of
waiting for the artillery to have its full effect, and,
holding high the regimental colour, he boldly led his
two companies up the face of the hill in counter-attack
against the position he had lost. Inmiediately, he was
hit by four bullets, and had just strength sufficient in
him to commend the standard to the guardianship of
his major, who also fell almost at once, desperately
y
234 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
wounded, but handing on the sacred emblem to the
adjutant, who, in his turn, dropped in his tracks to a
Bussian bullet. Last of all the Imperial ensign passed
down to the hand of a private soldier of the first class,
who led the last stage of the assault and planted the
insignia of his regiment firmly on the corpse-strewn
sunmiit. As he did so, full in the face of the Russians
thirty or forty paces distant, they in their turn gave way.
The Japanese pursued to the crest-line and, looking
down, beheld the two other Bussian battalions coming
up the hill. Officers and men of these reinforcements
spread out their arms to stop their fleeing comrades
and shouted to them to stand fast, but all in vain.
The fugitives dashed into the serried ranks of their
brethren and flung both battalions into inextricable
confusion. The two companies fired into the struggling
mass at seventy-five yards range, and in five more
minutes the victory was conclusive.
Only quick decision won this fight ; quick decision
and the personal heroism of Ota and his officers. Can
war be altogether bad when it inspires ordinary men
to actions so touching and so sublime? No true
soldier will ever hear unmoved the tale of the sun-flag
of Ota. His heart will surely fill with thankfulness
and joy as he thinks of the passionate devotion to the
military idea which stands embodied in the silken rag
now streaming to the winds of heaven over the outpost
of the Taling Pass. Long may that brave standard
be borne at the head of a gallant regiment, raising
the generous enthusiasm of successive thousands of
Japanese recruits. Long after its lustrous embroi-
deries have mouldered into dust may the ideal it stood
for be remembered by our people in England. May
they all hear the story of Ota's sun-flag and learn at
what cost this morning it crowned the scene of conflict
Ota's Sun-flag 235
where it waves free, the symbol of a mighty empire
and the very incarnation of its glory. Dai Nippon
— ^Banzai ! *
In front of the Tumenling Pass there has also
been some very severe fighting, and victory or defeat
seem still to hang in the balance. Yesterday there
was a heavy fire action in progress until dark, but
nothing very decisive was attempted on either side.
To-day at 4 a.m. the Japanese position was attacked
all along its length with the bayonet. When the
last news came to hand the struggle had actually
endured at close quarters for two mortal hours, and it
may be going on yet for all we know to the contrary.
The Russians when repulsed only fall back a dozen
yards or so into the dead ground below the crest-line,
whence they throw hand grenades into the trenches,
whilst the Japanese retaliate by hurling great rocks
over the crest and down the slope along the top of
which the Russians are lying. At one place the
enemy actually succeeded in carrying a section of the
trenches, but fortunately this part of the position was
commanded by high ground at close range, so they
were forced by fire to evacuate it again. My infor-
* I oonedder the Gunki Yama affair to be a very typical action.
On the one hand, a big, unwieldy, inert regiment ; and on the otheri
two quick, alert, independent companies. Had the Bussian
battalion commander, on taking the summit, at once detached a sec-
tion to either flank to work round the slopes of the hill, these would
have mown down the Japanese as they advanced up the ground (dead
from the summit) to the assault. Or, had the regimental commander
at once moved his other two battalions round the base of the hill,
instead of straight up it, he might so have scored an important
success. But the idea of piling together men on a small space of
ground to make it secure is Spion Kop, vieux jeitx and utterly
damnable. Ota recovered, although one of the four bullets which
struck him had pierced his chest. He received a fine Eanjo from
Oyama. — ^I. H.
mr^mmm^^^mmmmmmmmmm^m^^r^^mmm^^m^m
236 A Staff Officbr's Scrap-Book
mant says " fortunately," for he imagines that if it had
been necessary to deliver a counter-attack, "there
would have been literally no men available for the
purpose." As usual Kuroki remains undisturbed,
though the crisis on the right is certainly grave. I
presume he relies upon our successes here, and
on the impending flank movement of Matsunaga, to
neutralise any potential Bussian gains in the Penchiho
direction.
There is no news to hand about the Russians who
crossed the Taitsuho at Weining on the 8th instant. But
the important post and dep6t of Chaotao is probably
out of immediate danger as it was occupied by Prince
Kanin and the Second Cavalry Brigade yesterday
evening. The infantry garrison has also been increased
from seventy to 350 rifles by sweeping in all the odds
and ends within twenty miles distance. The Japanese
have had extraordinarily good luck with their cavalry
brigade. After sending them to Chaotao they seem
for once to have lost some of their nerve, and to have
hesitated to risk their last reserve against a wide turn-
ing movement. A counter order was therefore dis-
patched, telling His Imperial Highness to leave
Chaotao to its fate, and to move southwards to Shakan
on the Taitsuho, so as to cover the rear of the right
wing of Kuroki's Army. The message miscarried, and
now Prince Kanin and his cavalry have reached Chao-
tao, and, humanly speaking, have saved it !
An infantry battalion belonging to the Twelfth
Division has crossed from Penchiho to the south bank
of the Taitsuho, and is going to try and get touch
with Prince Kanin's Cavalry, so that they may, in
concert, operate against the extreme left flank of the
Bussians.
,i 5
Ota's Sun-flag 237
The garrison of Penchiho may now hope to be fed
by its own line of communications. Yesterday the
whole of its supplies had to be sent along the front of
the First Army. Thus even a minor local success of
the Russians along the front of the right of the Second
Division, the Guards or the Twelfth Division would
have resulted in the complete cutting off of the Penchiho
supplies of ammunition and food.
Taiyo Village, 7 p.m. — During the rest of the
afternoon there was not very much to note from inde-
pendent observation. Matsunaga sent back at 3 p.m.
to say he could not possibly march eastwards on
Chosenrei until after dark, as the Russian guns com-
manded the whole of the Kamiriuka valley. About
the time this message was received, the sound of very
heavy firing came from the north-east. I think it
must be caused by the right column of the Guards
assaulting Bajisan. I saw several attempts made by
Okasaki's men at various times during the afternoon to
storm the highest mountain north of Shotatsuko, but
on each occasion they had to double back to cover very
quickly as soon as they had reached what is evidently a
very deadly zone of fire at about 150 yards from the
summit. These abortive attempts were not made by
any large body or, apparently, by superior order, but
merely by section or company commanders who thought
they would have a try on the chance of finding a weak
spot through which they might penetrate.
If, however, I have not seen much since Matsunaga's
capture of the rocky knoll north of Zenshotatsuko,
I obtained an intensely vivid and interesting account
of a great cavalry success near Penchiho, when I went
to say good night half an hour ago. The encounter
took place this morning, and sets the minds of all the
^^^
238 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
Staff very much at ease regarding the course of events
in that part of the field, as the whole of the 1500
Cossacks under Bennenkampf, who had crossed the
Taitsuho at Weining on October 8 th, have now
been driven back eastwards, and conununications
between Penchiho and the south are once more open.
But there is more than mere relief from anxiety to
gladden the hearts of Kuroki and his Staff A posi-
tive brilliant victory has been achieved. The enemy
have been struck a deadly and more then decimating
blow, and to add to the intoxication of the joyous
tidings, the Corps which has added such lustre to the
arms of Japan is the hitherto misprised Cavalry which
— last but not least — was led by an Imperial High-
ness, the dashing Prince Kanin.
Although Chaotao lies only seventeen miles south of
Penchiho, and was practically undefended* on the
9th and 10th, yet, for some reason which may be
explained hereafter from Russian sources, the 1500
Cossacks with their battery of Horse Artillery
attempted nothing decisive, but hung about between
Penchiho and Chaotao as if waiting for the fall of the
former place.
On the 11th, Prince Eanin with the Second Cavalry
Brigade and six Hotchkiss machine guns arrived at
Chaotao, and thus anticipated the Cossacks in making
a raid which every one here has consistently assumed
they must make if only for the reason that it seemed
80 easy and so desirable from their point of view, so
unpleasant and mortifying from the point of view of
the Japanese.
To-day, at 3 a.m.. Prince Eanin marched on Penchiho
(see Map XXXIY.). At the Senkin Pass he had a
* The garrison consisted of seventy infantry soldiers. — I. H.
■■M9
M
w^
Ota's Sun-flag 239
skirmish and drove the Cossacks back northwards. As
I have akeady noted, the Russians in their attack on
Penchiho had been trying to envelop the place, and
their extreme left had actually worked round along
the river Taitsu due south of the defence line. Thus
on the extreme Japanese right the defenders were
thrown back like the lower part of the letter " S "
alone the tops of the mountains whose slopes ran
down into the river, whUst the Eussians with their
backs to the river and their faces to the north were
half-way up the slope still endeavouring to effect a
lodgment on the crest-line. After the skirmish on
the Senkin Pass, the Cossacks fell back as far as the
Taitsuho, where they still interposed between the
advancing Japanese cavalry brigade and their own
infantry who, on the northern bank, were busily
engaged with the defenders of Penchiho. On the
nearer approach of Prince Kanin, however, the Cos-
sacks shifted their position eastwards, still covering
their unconscious infantry so far as to forbid the
Japanese cavalry from making any attempt to cross
the Taitsuho, but leaving it open to them to occupy
some high ground on the southern bank which was
within effective rifle range of the Bussian Camp on the
other side of the river.
Prince Kanin is not the sort of man who would miss
good chances, and certainly on this occasion he seems
to have unhesitatingly seized the ripe gift offered him
by fortune. Stealthily manoeuvring his six machine
guns into position on a high and broken spur which
ran down to the water's edge, he suddenly opened a
hellish rain of bullets upon two Russian battalions
who, at half-past eleven o'clock, were comfortably
eating their dinners. In less than one minute
240 A Staff Officbb's Sobap-Book
hundreds of these poor fellows were killed, and the
rest were flying eastwards in wild disorder. Next
moment the Maxims were switched on to the Russian
firing Une who, with their backs to the river and their
attention concentrated on Penchiho, were fighting in
trenches about half-way up the slope of the mountain.
These, before they could realise what had happened,
found themselves being pelted with bullets from the
rear. No troops could stand such treatment for long, and
in less than no time the two brigades of Russians which
had formed the extreme left of Stakelberg's attack,
were in full retreat. Altogether the six Maxims had
accounted for, according to the first despatch, 1000 ;
according to the second 1300 Russians.
It would be rash were I to dogmatise on the compara-
tively scanty and entirely one-sided information which
is all that is at present available to me. Primd facie
it seems strange that Rennenkampf did not either
elect to fight to the last in order to deny to the Second
Cavalry Brigade any ground from which it might with
impunity molest the infantry on the northern bank ;
or else (if he felt himself unequal to the task) that he
did not at least send word to the infantry down in
camp by the northern bank of the Taitsuho, warning
them, as well as their comrades fighting on the slopes,
to look out for squalls. Some may think the infantry
should have had their own picquets thrown out on the
high ground along the southern bank of the Taitsuho,
but it seems to me that the infantry cannot well be
blamed for supposing they were safe from sudden
surprise in this direction when they believed themselves
to be covered by 1500 Cossacks and a battery !
I ought to turn in so as to be fresh for to-morrow,
and yet I ought also to write for several more hours if
Ota's Sun-Flao 241
I wish to record even feebly my impression of this day
of days.
The Japanese are doing wonders — ^prodigies almost
— and the Russians can nowhere resist them. Yet I
have a strange feeling as if these Russians were like
cotton wool — ^very soft at first, but getting harder and
harder as they are pressed and pressed, until at last
the force which is squeezing them finds it has got hold
of a solid slab of gun-cotton, unplastic as iron and
capable of exploding with terrific violence. Okasaki
does not seem able to carry the round hill north of
Shotatsuko in the same slap-dash style as he carried
Terayama, which yet appeared to me far the stronger
position of the two.
One more reflection. The Japanese artillery did not,
in my humble opinion, distinguish themselves to-day
as much as the other arms. When Matsunaga
stormed the knoll above Zenshotatsuko a minute or
two before 11 A.M., the hills to the north of it were
covered with retiring Russian infantry. By this time
the Russian guns north of Shotatsuko had been
silenced, and those near Renkwasan and Domonshi
could not range the Japanese batteries {see Map
XXXin.). With better signalling arrangements
and good horses, I think that the Japanese bat-
teries might have galloped up to effective range
of the retiring infantry within a quarter of an hour
of the commencement of their slow retreat up the
slopes of the mountains, and have punished them
severely. What actually happened to-day was that
a message was sent back by an orderly and that the
artillery began to move forward at 11.30 when all
the retreating infantry were already getting imder
cover. Even then the guns seemed to advance
II Q
«■
242 A Staff Officer's Scbap-Book
desperately slowly, although the roads were good and
dead level. The brigade on the right after all only
advanced 300 or 400 yards to a spot under Sanjoshisan,
where they had deep gun -pits ready prepared, and this
although there was a splendid position 1000 yards
further on where they might have shelled the enemy
effectively, instead of at such extreme range that their
shrapnel bullets could have had no velocity remaining
to do much harm. The two batteries on the left went
almost as &r as Terayama, where they came into
action on the open plough. Their advance was more
pronounced and useful to the infantry than that of
their brethren on the right, but even so, it was neither
prompt enough, fast enough, or bold enough, according
to my ideas — ideas which are shared, unless I very
greatly mistake, by many Japanese officers.
I must now positively turn in. Vincent and the
foreign attaches with the Second Division are here,
and have spent the day on Terayama. They say it is
covered pretty thick with Bussian dead and wounded,
mostly middle-aged, bearded men. On several of them
were found prayer books in Russian presented by the
British Bible Society. My American confrhre says that
we are a very difficult people to compete against — we
deal out Bibles to one side and guns to the other.
Colonel Hume, who has been with the Guards, has
witnessed the scene of Watanabe's fight which I have
tried to describe. I have got the facts correctly
enough, so it seems. He saw a very exciting series of
incidents where two Japanese batteries were running
the gauntlet of fire along a short section of the road
between Hakashi and Kamiriuka, on which a Russian
battery in action near Domonshi had ranged to a nicety.
On this one occasion the Japanese drivers managed tQ
//
Ota's Sun-Fijlg 243
raise a gallop. Each gun or waggon went singly and,
as it reached the dangerous spot, sure enough the rafale
burst all round it. Finally, the old forge waggon
came lumbering along, and the shells exploded so near
to it that the horses, accustomed as they should have
been by now to any sort of uproar, took fright and
bounded, so that a man fell off the tail-board. He
picked himself up, however, and ran off as if the devil
was after him. One lead-driver was very cunning : he
kept the comer of his eye in the direction of the
enemy's guns, and the instant he saw the dust of their
discharge, pulled up dead, twenty yards short of the
danger-point, and thus eluded the eight shells which
spent themselves harmlessly on the track just in front
of his team. When all the excitement and firing was
over, the casualties were checked, and it was found
that in one battery only seven men had been hit, and
in the other ten horses !
^^^^m^^m^r^w^^^^^r^m^^^^^r^^w^m w^ p* - ■ t- ■ ■ t, _r
CHAPTER XXXI
THE ASSAULT OF THE TALL HILL
A Hillock just North-bsast of Hanlasanshi,
1 P.M., October 13th, 1904. — Last night, General Kuroki
issued orders for a general pursuit of the Russians, and
announced his expectation that the Guards Division
would be able to press them back to the south of
Hoshuho, whilst the Second Division would make good
Wasoko. Commanders were enjoined to punish the
enemy as much as they could during their retirement.
But, so far as I can see, nothing of the sort has taken
place. The Headquarters Staff and myself have pushed
on to this rocky knoll whence we should get an extra-
ordinarily good view of the advance when it does take
place, but that is not yet. In front of us, just out of rifle
shot, is Okasaki, apparently in precisely the same posi-
tion as yesterday. Not a yard has he gained during the
night, only, wherever his men happened to be at sunset,
they have now deeply dug themselves in. The Fourth
Army is still holding Nanzan and attacking Round Top
from thence. Suribachiyama, the ridge joining Nan-
zan to the high hill to the east of it, and even the
south-west skirts of the high hill itself,* are in
Okasaki's possession, but its summit is still swarming
with Russians. The Japanese have a battery north of
Sanjoshisan and one brigade on a spur south of Suri-
* Afterwards called Okasaki Yama. (See Sketch XXYI.)— I. H.
X i
i I '
The Assault of the Tall Hill 245
bachiyama. They are firing on the high hill. From
its position the battery near Sanjoshisan is able to
some extent to enfilade the Russian line, but the other
three batteries are firing direct and cannot at such a
short range and high elevation expect to do much
damage to men below the crest. Howitzers, in fact,
are badly wanted here. Strange to say the Russian
batteries firom positions near Benkwasan and Hama-
tang are firing either at Terayama or at the batteries
south of Suribachiyama, or occasionally in our direc-
tion, but take no notice of the battery just north of
Sanjoshisan which must, I am sure, be doing a lot of
damage. Whenever Okasaki's infantry attempt any
offensive movement, the Russians disregard the shells
bursting among them and stand up to fire, so far with
the result that the Japanese cannot get on at all.
Things are worse with the other brigade (Matsu-
naga's) of the Second Division, from which a long
despatch has just come in by the hands of a Guards
orderly. At 7 p.m., by which time the shades of
evening completely hid their movements from the
Russian artillery, they started for Chosenrei to inter-
cept Stakelberg's retreat.* The rain came down in a
perfect deluge, and the night was dismal, stormy, and
dark as Erebus. Slipping in the icy mud, covered up
to their waists with layers of congealed clay, the
gallant fellows stuck to it until 5 this morning,
when they found themselves within 200 yards of the
Russians. They have made two assaults which have
* I heard afterwards that the BussianB did apparently suspect
that there was somethmg in the wind, and made a sharp counter-
attack just as Matsunaga was starting. Most fortunately it was not
vigorously pressed, and Matsunaga was able to repulse it and continue
his march with only half an hour's delay. — I. H.
246 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
been beaten off with heavy loss. Matsunaga sends in
to say he is going to try again, and hopes for better
luck next time.*
From the far right at Penchiho the news is more
reassming. The Russians are in full retreat. But it
is a retreat as unmolested as that of Liaoyang. The
* At Ghosenrei (Pass) there is a very steep ascMit of 150 feet
up a narrow ridge which blocks the valleys east and west {aee
Maps XXXIII. and XXXIY.). After the repulse of Matsunaga's
second attack, one and a half Bussian battalions appeared from
the Shinkwailing direction and, occupying the heights on the
north side of the valley up which the Japanese had advanced,
threatened their retreat. Matsunaga held off this force with a
portion of his reserve, and with nerve and indomitable resolu-
tion continued his assaults against the pass. The slopes were so
slippery and steep, however, that his tired, mud-clogged troops
sustained repulse after repulse until, in the evening, two RussiBn
guns coming on to the pass opened fire, and four howitzers appeared
on the sky-line near the Shinkwailing. The fighting continued until
9 P.M. and firing then ceased. Next morning the Russians had
retired.
This night march and the bulldog fight at the end of it were a
fitting conclusion to Matsunaga's exploits, which had commenced on
the morning of the 11th and had gone on uninterruptedly night and
day since then. If the western world is still curious to know the
cause of the Japanese successes in the field, here, in the conduct of
this small and unsuccessful operation, the secret may be read in
epitome. How many brigadiers are there in Europe who are
sufficiently confident in their chief and in themselves to accept
responsibility with Matsunaga's pertinacity and nerve. After an
exhausting night march up a long valley, he met the enemy posted
across the head of it and twice made the assault without success.
He then saw fresh Bussian troops Uning the northern heights of the
valley up which he had marched, threatening to descend and cut off
his retreat. Did he fall back? Far from it. On the contrary^
putting away fear, he redoubled his efforts to carry the pass by
assault. I admit that Sir Frederick Roberts fought the battle at
Oharasia under precisely similar conditions, except that the Russians
would have given quarter and the Afghans would not But Oharasia
took place long ago. — I. H.
The Assault op the Tall Hill 247
Twelfth Division and the Umezawa Brigade are holding
a line twelve miles long, and it is impossible to change in
the twinkling of an eye from defensive to offensive
formations, especially as the enemy are still making
some show of attacking at the Tumenling and Taling
Passes, where a heavy bombardment by their artillery
is even now in progress. The Guards are endeavouring
to carry out Kuroki's spirited orders. Asada has
ordered his right column, under Izaki, to take Bajisan,
and then to proceed to the capture of Sensan, a big
mountain two miles to the north-west of it. The left
column under Watanabe is to attack the enemy in the
bills immediately to the east of Domonshi.
It now becomes apparent that the idea of counter-
ing Kuropatkin's attempt to turn our right at Fen-
chiho by turning his right and driving him oflF the
railway and Mukden into the mountains, has now
been definitely abandoned. We are actually aiming
at something bold in detail, and no doubt di£Bicult
enough, but infinitely less comprehensive and con-
clusive. There are two schemes simultaneously in
operation. The one is to use Matsunaga's brigade to
intercept a portion of Stakelberg's rearguard by cutting
in on its line of retreat over the Chosenrei. The other
is (with the assistance of the Fourth Army at Nanzan,
and by moving the Guards from Bajisan to Domonshi),
to envelop both flanks of the Russians who are fighting
exactly in front of us here. If this is successful we
miay cut off their retreat and perhaps effect an impor-
tant capture.
1.50 P.M. — ^We have no news yet from the Guards,
but I now see troops moving along a ridge some four
miles to the east-north-east, probably about Renk-
wasan. They are dodging from knoll to knoll.
248 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
advancing very slowly with a Japanese flag at their
head. These must be the Guards. I can also see
some Russians, apparently only 300 or 400 yards
distant from the Japanese standard, and shells
from the Guards' artiUery are bursting freely on the
open hillside between the two forces. No doubt great
deeds are being done out there, but when individuals
show up no larger than a pin's head, excitement and
sympathy are proportionately reduced.
2.20 P.M. — Kuroki expressed anxiety about the
difficulties which were delaying Okasaki in his attempt
to make good the summit of the tall hiU two miles
north of us.*
2.30 P.M. — Far away I see some 200 Russians making
a counter-attack against the Guards.
2.35 P.M. — They have not got very far. Not more
than one quarter of the way across the interval
between the two lines. Still, the Japanese cannot
get on.
2.40 P.M. — ^At several points brave individuals cariy-
ing little flags are advancing up towards the summit
of the tall hill, t and about two companies have worked
man by man to a small under-feature not more than
150 yards from the top behind which they are squeezed
together, a little crowd, lying as flat as they can,
whilst over their heads I know countless bullets unin-
terruptedly sing and whistle as they did at equally
short range over the defenders of Waggon Hill.
2.55 P.M. — A battalion of Russians is swarming up
a spur to counter-attack the Guards. The General
Staff have sent an adjutant to gallop for his life to
the Second Division Artillery south of Suribachiyama,
to tell them to turn their guns that way. Before he
* Okasaki Yama. f Ibid.
The Assault of the Tall Hill 249
had gone two minutes they did it of their own initia-
tive, scattering the Bussians a bit, but not checking
them altogether ; and now I believe the Guards are
beginning to fall back.
3 P.M. — On the tall hill* events seem to be approach-
ing a crisis. All the Japanese trenches are full to
overflowing, and still men keep dashing out to them,
and diving into these overcrowded gashes on the
flanks of the hill. I am near enough to distinguish
the officers very clearly by their swords. Several of
them are standing up. The Russians on the top of
the hill are also standing up to fire regardless of the
bursting shells which fall by dozens at their very feet
and conceal them from view sometimes for seconds at
a time. The whole of the Japanese artillery is now
blazing for all it is worth at the summit of the hill.
Three of the batteries are in action close by Suribachi-
yama ; a mountain battery is firing from Nanzan, and
the battery just north of Sanjoshisan is specially busy,
and is undoubtedly doing more damage than all the
rest put together, as it is able to get an enfilading
effect and to throw its shrapnel from left to right of
the Russian line.
The Japanese are making the assault I verily believe !
They have swarmed out of their trenches and have
disappeared over the brow.
3.15 P.M. — ^A company has succeeded, at least for the
moment, in making good the crest of the long spur rim-
ning westwards from the summit {see Sketch XXVI.).
But as soon as it topped the ridge it was met by a tre-
mendous fire fi*om Round Top Hill, and by an enfilading
fire fi*om the Russians on the main hill.t It seems
impossible that the men should hold on, but they do.
* Okaaaki Yaina. t Ibid.
■,Tf"jiw
250 A Staff Officer's Sorap-Book
Suddenly a little cluster of flags breaks out into spots
of colour in a slight depression due south of, and not
more than forty or fifty yards distant fix)m. the actual
summit! The effect on the officers aroimd me is
electrical. The symbol of the heroic soul of their
nation is almost touching the ranks of the Bussiana
They feel that actual contact with their talisman must
be &tal to the enemies of their Emperor, and yet they
tremble to think that this time perhaps it is decreed
that fortune may fail them at the last. To myself,
the anxiety of seeing the two forces within stone's
throw of one another is almost unbearable. The
Japanese know, I presume, where they have got to,
but I doubt if the Russians, who are still shooting
down the hillside, have any idea that their enemies
are crouching close by to make their last spring.
Meanwhile, another company has advanced straight
up the southern slope to within 150 yards of the
defender's line. It lies down to fire, but there is no
friendly feature of the ground here to hide it. The
Bussian bullets knocking up the dust cover them with
a light haze. They can endure no longer, and rush
across to the long spur running westwards, leaving a
trail of prostrate bodies. Here they fix themselves on
to a part of the crest-line half-way between the summit
and the spot whence the first attempt is still clinging
on and exchanging a furious fire with Bound Top. (See
Sketch XXVI.)
3.30 P.M. — A message has come in to say that the
Fourth Aimy on our left has entirely defeated the
enemy, who are flying in disorder.
3.40 P.M. — ^The two companies I observed at 2.40
P.M. lying close behind an under-feature 150 yards
from the summit have sent forth a little forlorn hope.
SW>M<
vrew oi*
THK
:> SHOWS 1
The Assault op the Tall Hill 251
It consists of less than 100 men. Most gallantly they
advance until they get to within a few yards of the
suniniit, and then their hearts fail them and they rush
desperately down the hill, leaving their dead behind
them. At the same time the Russian shrapnel from
the east-north-east and from Hamatang seems suddenly
to find then- fellows clinging on behind the under-
feature. The spot has been badly shrapnelled for two
minutes, and now, instead of about 400 men, there are
only about sixty or seventy left, the rest having cleared
off down the mountain side. But the men with the
flags close up to the summit are still holding on,
though how they can do it I do not know, as the
shrapnel seems to be bursting right in their faces.
3.45 P.M. — ^An adjutant has come in from the Fourth
Army saying that the Tenth Division, which was
supposed to be pursuing the badly defeated Russians,
has suffered a severe repulse. The Staff are bewildered,
and do not quite know what to believe. At the same
time another despatch has come in from Matsunaga at
Chosenrei to say that all his repeated assaults have
failed, and that he is being surrounded by the enemy.
The Guards contribute their quota of ill news, for not
only has their famous encircling movement been brought
to a full stop, but their right column has been virtually
defeated, and orders for its retreat were issued at
2 P.M.
Amidst all this, Kuroki keeps a stiff upper lip
and only says it is the more imperative we should carry
the. tall hill * to our front. A staff officer remarks,
" The whole of the First Army is in difficulties, but
presently Okasaki will put everything right." All the
same, an appeal for help has been made to Oyama, and
* Okasaki Yama.
252 A Staff Officer's Scbap-Book
he has responded like a noble Samurai, putting the
Manchurian Army Reserve at our disposal, and now it
is marching here just as fast as its legs can carry it
over the ground.
4.45 P.M. — ^The hour is at hand. Beneath my strong
glasses the Japanese in the little hollow just below the
summit seem to stir uneasily and to prepare. On to
the narrow space which separates them from the
Russians the guns of both armies are pouring out
shell by the hundred. The shell drop earthwards in
rattling thunderclaps, releasing the awful Genius of
War, who, in the shape of a tall, ghost-like pillar
of smoke, stretches out his huge and shadowy
pinions over the encountering hosts. The Russian
shrapnel fly fast and thick just over the southern side
of the crest-line. They are fused and ranged to per-
fection, and before they burst they cross a rain of
Japanese shells pitching within ten yards of them
over the northern edge of the same crest. Many a
bullet must be finding the wrong billet when the two
targets are only fifty yards apart. The hour has
come. A handful of Japanese have leaped from their
cover to fling themselves to earth within ten paces of
the Russians. Unendurable suspense ! Here I stand
in safety, seeing Japanese and Russians springing up to
fire point-blank into one another's faces, iJien crouching
down to reload, then again rising for a moment to fire.
It is too much I
I saw these things as clearly as if I were a part of
them, and the sight of these little struggling figures
silhouetted against the sky will never be e£Eaced fix>m
my mind. For now the Russians rose in a line and,
holding their sharp bayonets before them, charged
down like mountain bulls. At their head was a gallant
The Assault of the Tall Hill 253
officer in a white coat, and his sword flashed as he
waved it round his head. Down and back went the
Japanese ; the Headquarters Staff had to turn their
heads away from the long-drawn-out agony of this
struggle with bayonet and sword ; but I could not, for
I was lost in amazement. The foes had drawn apart,
and stood facing one another at ten yards' distance. It
seemed an eternity, and actually it must have been a
minute. Then they closed again, and seemed to
wrestle body to body, and parted again and threw
rocks and thrust with bayonets and clubbed their rifles.
But they did not shoot, or if they did it was only a
very, very little. There were only some seventy
Japanese, and perhaps fifty or sixty Russians. The
crisis lasted full five minutes, and now the Japanese
seemed beaten ; several of them fell back ; all was lost
— No I the fugitives turned again, brave fellows 1 The
Russians withdrew to their trench, the Japanese
followed close on their heels, and the position was
taken. From right and left reinforcements continuously
worked their way up the hill side, and by half-past
five o'clock the whole of the crest-line was thick with
Japanese emptying their magazines against the retreat-
ing Russians, and firing at Round Top Hill, which was
now being once more assaulted by the Tenth Division
of the Fourth Army. The whole of the First Army
Headquarters look taller and bigger men, as if a great
weight had suddenly been rolled off their shoulders.
War brings with it many surprises, but I must say
I never expected to see in a modem battle a long-
drawn-out struggle with the cold steel carried on in
broad daylight between men armed with modem
weapona It exemplifies the strong tendency of human
beings to revert to primitive methods under the
-VT"
254 A Staff Officer's Sorap-Book
influence of any great pressure or strain. It might be
the same with our own men under similar conditions,
but I can answer for it that it would not be so with
the Boers. Neither Bussians nor Japanese can hold
a candle to a Boer when it comes to the instinctive,
deadly, panther-like quickness with which the hunter
of the veldt can use a rifle at close range. In such a
mSlSe as that which I have just seen, a good Boer
would have had an enemy on the ground for each of
the ten cartridges in his magazine .Shin some twenty
seconds ! The bayonet should have no fears for such a
man. After all, a soldier with a bayonet is more easily
stopped, and much less swift and terrible than a tiger.
Tet there are men who will follow up a wounded tiger
on foot for pleasure. But they are practised riflemen
and have confidence in their aim.
7 P.M. — ^Bound Top has been captured by the Tenth
Division. Fourth Army, assisted by ttie fire of the
Second Division, from the captured hill, now called
Okasaki Tama in honour of the gallant brigadier.
Okasaki himself and his troops are to have no rest, but
have been ordered to take another hill two miles to the
east by Renkwasan during the coming night. They
are now starting.
The capture of Okasaki Tama relieves the First
Army from a great danger. Since Matsunaga has been
sent to Chosenrei (where he is still held up), the
weakest point in Kuroki's line is that between the right
of the Second Division and the left of the Guards. In.
fact, the gap of some three miles between them was at
first only filled by two Eobi battalions, left behind by
Matsunaga, afterwards increased to four Eobi battalions
by the addition of the whole of Euroki's reserve.
Okasaki Tama was like a spear-head, pressing painfully
t
The Assault of the Tall Hill 255
against this weakly armoured spot. Had it not been
taken before nightfall, it might have punctured an
open wound in the Japanese line of battle, through
which several Kussian Divisions'^ might have pene-
trated into their vitals. I am sure that the sending of
Matsunaga to Penchiho was worse to the commander of
the First Army than losing a limb. If, however, I were
asked whether the problematical results were worth so
desperate a risk I, personally, with the limited informa-
tion at my disposal, should say, most certainly not.
The consideration of such a question is more suitable
for an elaborate study than for my note-book, but,
briefly, it seems to me that the best justification for
detaching Matsunaga would be :
(1) That the Twelfth Division was in such a
bad way that help must be sent them at all costs.
(2) That there was danger lest the Eussians
should break through the Japanese Twelfth
Division, and thus cut the line of communication
through while supplies had been sent to Penchiho
since Bennenkampf had interrupted the Chaotao-
Penchiho road.
(3) That Euroki had a right to reckon upon
Marshal Oyama's willingness to send him the
Fifth Division and Second Battalion of Foot
Artillery,! who should be here in an hour's time.
I doubt myself if, on closer examination, it will
be found that any of these suppositions could be
answered in the affirmative, and if so I think it must
* No less than four Buflsian Divisions were available, and with
Okasaki Yama in their hands a night attcu^ on and through Han-
lasanshi must almost inevitably have succeeded. — I. H.
t This battalion of Foot Artillery was armed with old-fashioned
9^ centimetre bronze mortars conveyed in the ordinary Japanese
pony transport carts.
i^flfy^sff^afmmmm^'^BifftmsvmilKi^mmtmmmsimm
256 A Staff Officbb's Scbap-Book
be admitted that the despatch of Matsunaga was one
of those over bold strokes to which continued good
fortune may sometimes tempt the greatest com-
manders.
By taking Okasaki Tama, Okasaki has again saved
the situation, for, by nightfall, no other success had
crowned the eflforts of the First Army.
^
CHAPTER XXXII
THE RUSSIANS RECROSS THE SHAHO
October lith, 1904, 8 A.M. On the mound north-east
of Hcmlasanshi. — ^The sound of the firing has re-
ceded northwards, and I can see nothing from here,
hut I have heen told some particulars regarding the
action fought by the Guards yesterday, which em-
phasise the importance of Okasaki's victory* As I
have already noted, the left Guards column was to
occupy the hills east of Domonshi, whilst the right
column was to take Bajisan, and thence to attack and
occupy the big mountain Sensan, from which the
retreat of the Russians holding Okasaki Tama and
the neie;hbourhood could have been cut off, {See
Map XXXIII.)
The right Guards colunm of six battalions under
Izaki, duly attacked and captured Bajisan, but when
it endeavoured to force its way across the long, low
ridge connecting Bajisan with Sensan, it came under
fire firom the north-east and north-west, against which
it could make no progress. A Russian column then
advanced through the village of Shimokokugiuton and
made a counter-attack against Izaki's left, whose whole
force was thus thrown on the defensive.
The left Guards column started at daybreak for the
hills east of Domonshi, but found them occupied by
II B
258 A Staff Officer's Sgrap-Book
the enemy in such foroe that, far from being able to
attack, the colmnn was forced to entrench and defend
itself. Thereupon a large body of the enemy was
encouraged to strike boldly at the gap which separated
the right and left Guards columns, and in doing so
occupied a small hill (now called lida Tama), midway
between the two, thus piercing the centre of the
division. Not a moment was to be lost unless a dis-
aster) was to ensue. If the Bussians on lida Tama
were reinforced they might either continue their
advance and capture the Guards artillery, or else,
striking out left and right, they might outflank and
overthrow both right and left columns.
In this emergency the 4th Guards Begiment,
who formed the Divisional Reserve under Colonel
lida were ordered to attack. lida made a fine advance
and effected a lodgment on the knoll which now bears
his name. He could not altogether expel the enemy,
but he arrested their progress and turned their
thoughts away from further offensive action.
Meanwhile, the right column had been driven back
by a Russian counter-attack from Bajisanmura,* and
continued its retreat for several miles until it re-entered
the general alignment which it had first quitted on the
night of the 11th- 12th, not too wisely I venture to
think.t
At midnight, last night, the enemy began a general
retirement, and the whole of the First Army, including
* Ifaerhshan is the OhineBe name for Bajisaiu Mora means
Tillage in Japanese^
t It is difBoalt to understand how the Japanese on the ool
hetween Bajisan and Bensan were allowed to retire without being
yery seriously punished. They were under fire from Bensan, and
the Bussians were in oooupation of lida Yama and adyandng fooni
Bajisanmura. However, they did get away quite comfortably.
m^m
The Bussians Eecross thb Shaho 259
the Fifth Division,* lent to Kuroki by Oyama, is now
advancing on the Shaho.
10 A.M. — I have just had the privilege of a few
minutes' talk with H.LH. Prince KunL He was
pleased to remark that whenever he came out in the
morning he always looked first to see if the guns of the
enemy were further off, so as to get an idea of how
things were going. I said that to achieve the same
result I always looked at the faces of the Staff.
I then got leave to go and see Terayama and Okasaki
Tama. On Terayama the poor gods were out in the
open ; both the Japanese and Russian artilleries having
combined to knock their abode about their ears. Three
gigantic figures especially attracted my attention.
They were surrounded by many wounded, and the gods
themselves had been stabbed aJl over by the bayonets of
the religious Bussian soldiers {see Photo.). Altogether
a very piteous sight, though the human wounded were
being looked after to some extent. The sunken road
on the south and south-west of Terayama had
afforded the Bussians admirable cover. I dismounted
[ and got into it just to make sure my observations were
[ correct from the Bussian point of view. It is impossible
^ to imagine more favotu*able shooting conditions. In
^ most directions the Bussian field of fire extended for
' a clear 1000 yards which was unbroken by even a
scrap of cover, and at the worst point of the compass
^ they had a clear 600 yards. In theory it seemed that
i the defenders had only to lay their rifles flat along the
p ground and pull the trigger to check any attempt at a
ayup de main like that of Okasaki on the 11 th instant.
^ However, it was not so in reality. The Bussian dead
p * The Fifth Division oonoentrated last night at Hanlasanshi and
4 Eamiriuka. — I^ ^
260 A Staff Officer's Sgbap-Book
had not yet been buried. The majority had been killed
by shrapnel, but there were a fair number of bayonet
wounds also. In the road itself, where the dead were
thickest, not many seemed to have been killed by
rifle fire.
I next rode to Okasaki Tama. There were still
some Japanese dead on the lower slopes. They were
all young and looked like boys compared with the big,
bearded, middle-aged Russians whose dead (not nearly
as many as I expected) were chiefly on the summit.
Whilst gazing around I met two soldiers of the 16th
Regiment which had carried out the assault. I got into
conversation with them through Nakamura, and
found that one of them had actually taken part in the
desperate struggle I saw at 5 p.m. last night. In
answer to a question, he said he had used neither
bullet nor bayonet, but had taken to stone-throwing.
I asked him why he had done so, seeing it was surely
quicker to load and to fire, and he replied that the
Russians did it, and that it seemed at the moment to
come more handy. I thanked the men, and said
every one had yesterday admired the brave regiment.
They said something to Nakamura in reply. He did
not translate it to me, but I saw him smiling to him-
self, and asked him to repeat the remark. He then
told me the soldier had replied it was an honour to his
corps that it should have won the approval of a
general of an allied nation. He was a particularly
nice-looking boy with a delicate, well-bred face. The
other was more of a round-&ced country bumpkin.
I only note down the incident to show that many
of the Japanese private soldiers are perfect gentle-
men.
On the scene of the hand-to-hand struggle I watched
M
s
\
h
\
H
\
^%
\
I
Thb Eussians Beoboss the Shaho 261
yesterday with almost horror-stricken attention, there
were a number of Bussian bayonets. It seems that
the Japanese soldiers were able to catch hold of
them in the milee and twist them off. Another
Japanese soldier searching about for mementoes here
told us that the Bussian bayonets were blunt and
would not penetrate a thick coat. In proof of his
assertion he picked up one or two and showed that the
chiseMike edge had become quite dull. The Bussians
always manoeuvre with fixed bayonets, and no doubt
they are apt to become blimt under service conditions.
Some arrangement will have to be made in future
whereby it is impossible for an enemy to grasp a
bayonet by the blade and unfix it.
From where I now stand it is easy, without being a
great tactician, to see where the Bussians made their
mistake in yesterday's battle. They had a superiority of
numbers, but they were unable, or rather didnot seriously
attempt, to make these numbers tell. Bound Top and
OkasakiTama together did not afford room for the effec-
tive employment of more than a regiment. At the
most, this terrain gave scope for one battalion on each
summit and one battalion entrenched in support a little
way down each northern slope. But the Bussians had
several divisions available. In the old days when
weight and cohesion were everything, these might
have been used in long columns like battering-rams to
drive a hole through one small vital point in the enemy's
position. Nowadays the way to employ superiority of
force is by occupying or advancing over a wider front
than the enemy, and so enveloping him. For it is
cei'tain that to cram more troops than can fi:^ely use
their rifles upon a narrow ridge like Okasaki Tama is
merely to offer up victims to the opponents' shrapnel.
S62 A Staff Offiobr's Scrap-Book
There is doubtless a moral support in being surrounded
by friends, but in proportion as comrades become
corpses the confidence changes into dismay. In my
opinion, then, the Russians were boimd to dear
for themselves a wider frontage, and vigorous counter-
attacks upon Suribachlyama and Nanzan would not
only have achieved such an object if successful, but even
if unsuccessful would have distracted the plans of the
Japanese and prevented them from devoting the whole
of their deliberate attention, as well as their concen*
trated artillery fire, to the capture of Okasaki Tama.
At 1 P.M. 1 rode back towards the knoll north-east
of Hanlasanshi. On my way I passed some of the new
Fifth Division. The Fourth Army has no military
attach^, and in passing along the ranks in the narrow
streets of Sankashi I was naturally enough taken by
the men for a Russian prisoner of rank.
When I arrived at the Hanlasanshi knoll, I foimd
Kuroki engaged in conversation with an ofiScer who
had just come in from the staff of the generalissimo.
He was quite the typical, army head-quarters staff
ofiBcer. He wore a smart, new greatcoat with a fur
collar and bright, polished buttons which made all our
old garments almost rend themselves in envy and
despite. As customary, too, he was received with a
very special deference. He has brought us a copy
of a proclamation issued by Kuropatkin to his army,
of which I am to have a translation. Its genei'al tenor
is that he was sorry not to let his army stay and fight
it out at Liaoyang, but that a better opportunity had
now offered. I am sure the Japanese think precisely
the contrary.
I hear that the whole of the Russians are now in
retreat, and that on our right Matsunaga has joined
The Bussians Rbgboss the Shaho 263
hands with the Twelfth Division, and is in full pursuit.
Also that last night Okasaki had some more stiff
fighting near Renkwasan. As soon as it was dark he
moved north-eastwards across the valley to the east of
Okasaki Tama. The Bussians were posted on a hill
just to the west of Benkwasan. They held their
ground with determinatiou. and again bayonete and
hand grenades superseded the bullet, more legiti*
mately than in the daylight contest on Okasaki Tama.
Eventually the Bussians were driven off, and they feU
back on Hamatang. It is said that Marshal Oyama
has written a Eanjo * for OkasakL
5 P.M. — There has been a lot of thunder and icy
rain, which must have caused the troops very great
discomfort, and must have killed off hundreds of
wounded who might otherwise have had a chance.
Hanlasanshi, 10 P.M. — ^We are all together again
in a Chinese hut. Apparently the Bussians have only
fought rearguard actions to-day, and are now all across
the Shaho. The Fifth Division got to Waitosan on
the Shaho by 2 p.m. and wished to push on. Euroki
was inclined to consent, but Manchurian Army Head-
quarters would not hear of it. Amongst other things
found on the top of Okasaki Tama was the sword of
the brave Bussian officer who led the charge down the
hiU. The point was encrusted with blood for about
three inches, so the poor fellow got it well home into
some one before he felL
And so the great battle is over. What an experience I
My mind refuses to take it all in, and I am sure I have
stored up food for reflection for the rest of my life.
* A Elanjo in a writtea appxoval^a mucbiprued reward for either
a ODit or an individual*
CHAPTER XXXIII
THE LITTLE MAN IN GREEN
Hanlasanshi, October Ibth, 1904. — If any con-
firmation were needed of our information that the
fighting is over for the present, it would be furnished
by the arrival of a posse of workmen from headquarters
who have begun to repaper the windows and clean the
place up generally ; a sure indication always of a halt
of some duration. But there has been a good deal of
firing in fi:ont of the Second Army, and I hear that
they are attacking and endeavouring to force the
enemy across the river at a place called Shakaho.*
I do not myself believe that Kuropatkin's scheme of
putting the bulk of his troops on his lefb and endea-
vouring to turn the Japanese right at Penchiho was
sound. Stakelberg apparently concentrated at Fushun,
and meant by marching in a curve of 180 degrees, via
Penchiho, to turn the Japanese right and arrive at
Liaoyang. Mountains lend themselves to delaying
operations by a weaker force, and it might have
been foreseen that Umezawa, with what assistance
he could get from the Twelfth Division, would be able,
by taking up successive positions, to delay the pro-
gress of a force even such as Stakelberg's, which is said
to have consisted of four divisions of infantry and a
division of cavalry^, Meai^wbile, the right wing of the
Russians would be exposed to the risk of being crushed
* OhineBe, Shahopu, near where the railway crofiees the Shaho.
The Little Man in Green 265
by a direct Japanese advance along the clear and easy
main road and railway, and by the routes leading
northwards from the Yentai coal-mines. Had Stakel-
berg possessed a separate line of communications to the
north-east or east, then perhaps Kuropatkin's scheme
might have been worth trying. But this was not so,
and Stakelberg's line of communications started, as a
matter of fact, from his base to the north of Mukden.
Oyama's idea was to advance left in fix)nt, and to
endeavour to turn the enemy's right. By so doing he
hoped not only to push him from the railway, but drive
him altogether eastwards, into the mountains and away
from Mukden and his communications which he could
only then have regained by a long and circuitous
march northwards. Oyama was content to run a fair
amount of risk on his own right at Penchiho for the
chance of so great a gain, feeling confident that any
success on the direct road would quickly cause a halt
to be called to a commander operating in circuitous
fashion along a curve of 180 degrees. Oyama's plan
fell short of complete success because the Russians
fought stoutly and had too many troops still in hand
on their right and centre, notwithstanding the powerful
force they had detached to their left under Stakelberg.
To deal out destructive criticism, pure and simple,
does not however appreciably advance knowledge. I
will try my humble best then to put forward an alterna-
tive proposal. Suppose I had had the honour of being
staff officer to Europatkin, what sort of a scheme of
attack would I have drafted for his approval ?
In brief, my plan would have been to concentrate
the main Bussian force near Hanlasanshi, whilst I
merely played with the Japanese right by demonstra-
ting against it with inferior forces just to keep it
266 A Staff Offioeb's Scbap-Book
occupiecL I would have opened the ball by making a
night march with a special detachment with which I
should have endeavoured to turn Marshal Oyama's left
by the right bank of the Kongo. The force for this
purpose would have been one infSemtry division and all
the cavalry and horse artillery. Another of my
columns would have marched south along the line of
the railway, but the great bulk of my troops would
have concentrated, as I have just said, on the line
Hanlasanshi-DomonshL''^ Full initiative must have
been given to the commanders on either wing, as their
communications would have been practically en Vair.
Then at a given moment I would have thrust with all
my energy and force at the Japanese centre, and must
have broken it. Kuropatkin knew well the position
of the Japanese divisions and their strengths before
he despatched Stakelberg to the East. It was
impossible to keep him indefinitely ignorant of
their distribution. He knew then that he was in
superior force, and that he was stronger generally
opposite the Japanese right centre, but probably he
did not quite gauge how weak, how very weak, was
Kuroki between the Second Division and the Imperial
Guards. Still, he must have realised something, and
even if I had found myself his staff officer under the
faulty conditions of the plan he actually adopted, I
would have done my best to induce him to strike one
good, downright blow just on the right of the Second
Division, or on the lefb of the Guards.
It seems to me, in the wisdom that comes after the
event, that the chief of the staff to Kuropatkin might
have advised his commander on some such lines, and
that if his advice had been acted upon the battle might
* Chinese, Pi^nlashantfiu^Tumeptsii,
The Little Man in Green 267
not, after all, have ended so very badly for the Bussians,
although certainly their advance on Liaoyang must in
any case have been defeated. The fact is our First
Army was at its very weakest between the Second
Division and the Guards, and it was a touch-and-go
affair on that part of the terrain until the night of the
13th. Up till then, if the Russians had come on with
the four divisions which they had available on the line
Hanlasanshi-Domonshi, and had hcmiiment menSs
Vattaque de nuity ga aurait riussi.
The battle of the Shaho, which must, from every
point of view, be considered one of the most important
engagements ever fought upon this planet, will
doubtless form a favourite text for the dissertations of
able historians. Numbers will be checked and weighed
in the balances of time and opportunity. Maps will
be studied and masses of individual testimonies will
be sifted and carefully checked. Not until then can
any authoritative judgment be pronounced on the
commanders and troops on either side. Still, it must
also be remembered that time spent in careful investiga-
tions is not altogether time gained. During the next
few months many fables will be invented and many in-
dividuals will have realised that it is to their advantage
to confuse and darken the issues. I am therefore less
inclined to apologise than perhaps I ought to be that
I have ventured to set forth, here on the very ground,
an opinion which is certainly as sincere as it is
strong,
I have written the foregoing whilst waiting for an
important officer in his quarters, in a small room in a
Chinese Temple. The air is thick with cigarette smoke.
An adjutant, who has been up all the previous night,
sits at a table hardly able to keep his eyes open for
268 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
sleepiness. On the kong, a small orderly-room clerk
is squatting down like a statue of Buddha, writing
orders with a paint-brush and indian ink, each character
a masterpiece of art.
Hanlasakshi. October 16t^, 1904. — Slight frost
last night. A lovely day to be alive; a feeling
emphasised by the surrounding battalions of dead on
whom the earth does in truth lie lightly, so lightly
that' everywhere they seem to be struggling to escape
and walk again on this beautifrd autumn morning.
I have managed to secure a statement of the number
of Bussians actually buried on the battle-field up to
dusk yesterday evening. Here it is :
Left bank of Taitsuho .
Taling and Tumenling •
Heights north and south of ^
^uniriuka (Shanlingho). J
Heights north and south of ^
Bhotatsuko (Hsiao Takou). J
Neighbourhood of Rankaahi (Sanchiatsa)
„ of Seikosan *
Various scattered spots
8M)
500
600
1000
600
800
800
This makes a total of 3650 dead who have actually
received interment ; but judging merely from my own
observation in the immediate neighbourhood, the very
least that can be added on for corpses still unburied is
10 per cent., making a total of 4000. According to
* This was the scene of a fight witnessed by Vincent on the 14th
between the left of Okasaki's Brigade and the right of the Fourth
Army, against a Bussian rearguard packed very ck)se upon a ridge.
The ridge was swept from the south by artilleiy of the Second
Divirion and from the soixth*west by the artillexy of the Fourth
Army. All the losses, practically, were caused by shrapnel. The
number of dead stated to have be^i buried is corroborated in this
instance by information I received from an officer of the 40th
Begiment, who was actually engaged in the work*
Thb Little Man in Green 269
recognised custom, the killed should be multiplied by
five to arrive at the total casualties, which thus amount
to 20,000.
The dead Russians in front of the Second and Fourth
Annies are reported to be 4000, and on the same prin-
ciple the total losses of Kuropatkin must number fully
40,000. As the action was, for the first time in the
campaign, a hMaille de rencontre^ and as the Russians
had not therefore the advantage of field works, the more
extended formations of the Japanese and their intelli-
gent use of the ground told heavily in their favour. They
do not reckon their loss at more than 10,000, and they
are in a position, which Russia is not, to replace these
losses promptly. Man for man the Japanese reckon
they can place troops at Mukden in one-third of the
time in which the Russians can hope to do so. So
at least they say, although I think the comparison is
somewhat sanguine.
Hanulnsanshl October 17th, 1904. — ^At the tail of
all the self-congratulation of yesterday's entries, a
small regrettable incident has crept, belated, half
ashamed to show its face, but still, refusing to be
altogether ignored. Yesterday, the Fifth Division
marched back to rejoin the Fourth Army, leaving one
battalion behind to hold Waitosan.* Last night a
Russian regiment attacked the battalion and re-
captured Waitosan after a stiff fight.
But this is not all. We hear rumours bom servants
and interpreters that the Fourth Army has lost ten
gun& Ordinarily, I pay no attention to camp
rumours, which are as numeroiis and fiilly as un-
* Waitosan (Ohineee, Waitonahan) is called by the Buasiana
« Temple Hill." This must not be confounded with Terayama or
^ Temple Hill," captured by the Okasald Brigade on October 11th. .
270 A Staff Officbb's Scrap-Book
authentic with the Japanese armies as with our own,
but a report of defeat and disaster is something new,
and must, I think, have some foundation on fact.
Hanlasakshi. October IStk^ 1904. — ^At 2 p.m.,
Colonel Satow came in, and said he was ordered to
read us out an information.
The communication was as follows : ^' As the
enemy was resisting very stubbornly at Shakaho
(Shabopu) in front of the Second Army, the 5th
Brigade of the Tenth Division, Fourth Army, was
ordered to march against the left flank of the
enemy with one Brigade of Field Artillery and
one Brigade of Mountain Artillery. The brigadier
crossed the river and attacked the left flank of the
Bussian position at Shakaho (Shahopu) on the 16th
instant. As, however, the enemy held on with great
determination, he received orders to retire. At that
very moment the enemy attacked the Brigade in
great force and fury. A confused, bloody combat
ensued, which lasted long into the night. Both sides
fell back simultaneously, but the Brigade found that
in the course of the engagement it had lost nine field
guns and five Mountain guns."
I am very glad indeed that the Japanese have told
us their bad news so frankly. Satow delivered the
message very welL I merely said, ** Such incidents
must always happen in war," and he bowed.
So &r as I can recollect, this reverse is the first of
its sort that has been suffered by a Japanese army
for many years. There was no similar misfortune
during the war with China, and there has been none,
so far, in Manchuria.
HAin:iA6ANSHi, October 20th, 1904. — I had a long
talk to-day with a staff officer, mainly about Port
The Little Man in Green] 271
Arthur and the effects of the eleven-inch howitzers.
It appears they have hit the ships in harbour
several times, and that once General Nogi can sink
them some of his army will probably be brought up
here.* The Eighth Division has arrived at Yentai
Coal-Mines, and two more Kobi Brigades will also
soon arrive in the fighting line. The enemy in our
front are entrenching themselves heavily. It is the
earnest hope of the Japanese that the Russians will
soon sally forth and attack them again. The fact that
Kuropatkin decided to come south and fight the last
battle, instead of falling back and awaiting Oyama at
Taling, north of Mukden, was the most splendid piece
of good fortune that could possibly have happened to
Japan. So the Head-Quarters here think it is not too
much, perhaps, to hope that the Russians may repeat
their mistake and have another fight; when it is
impossible to say, of course, who would win, but when
the battle would, any way, be finally decisive of the
campaign, one way or another.
As regards the guns captured fix>m the Fourth
Army, it turns out that the loss of the brigade was
only some 500 men. The guns were taken after dark,
when they were in column of route. The Japanese
opinion is that the Fifth Brigade went too far in the
first place, and that in the second place the retreat
could not have been well conceived or carried out from
the tactical point of view. If a retreat has to take
place by night it is obvious that the infantry must
not fall back until the guns and train have got a good
start of them. After that, when the main body of
the infantry falls back it must still leave a strong rear-
* I omit all the Port Arthur news, as it does not immediately
oonoem the First Army
272 A Staff Officbr's Scbap-Book
guard behind it, and when, as in the present case, a
comparatively small force has penetrated into the
enemy's country, flank guards also become absolutely
necessaiy. Had such principles been acted upon by the
Commander of the Fifth Brigade on the night of the
16th- 17th October, then, although the infantry were
exterminated, the guns at least might have escaped.
Supposing, however, that the guns had been captured
after very heavy losses had been suffered, then no one
could have said one word. But 500 casualties is not
enough to set against the capture by the enemy of
fourteen guns. The brigadier was too courageous —
that is the long and short of it The young officers
of the First Army, on hearing of the disaster, say,
*' This is very wholesome and salutary for us all, and
will teach us to be cautious on future occasions.'*
In the afternoon I went with Vincent for a walk, and
we took the direction of the mountain Daisan (Sketch
XXrV.) which we determined to scale. When we were
still along way off we noticed the head and shoulders oi
a man against the sky-line on the summit. As a very
extensive view can be obtained from the top of Daisan,
it seemed possible that the Japanese might have posted
a look-out sentry there ; and so, as we have both had
some narrow escapes lately from revolvers and rifles
levelled at us under a misapprehension, we were care-
ful to walk up in such a way as to give no reasonable
ground for suspicion. That is to say, we advanced up
the bare spur as ostentatiously as possible, took out
our handkerchiefs and blew our noses and talked to
one another, just to show we were not the scouts of
the enemy. When a mountain gets very steep at the
last stage of the ascent, however, the climber has not
much breath to spare for such demonstrations, a.nd
The Little Man in Green 273
that, I suppose, must account for the complete frus-
tration of our precautions by the event. For, as we
topped the crest line and stepped on to the little flat
plateau at the summit, we became aware of a little
Japanese figure in a greatcoat and uniform of a green-
ish hue sitting there, looking northwards through his
field glassea On hearing our footsteps he turned his
head, and, seeing us for the first time, sprang to his feet,
his face convulsed with terror. He had a long staff
in his hand, and he kept striking the ground with
its point and stamping with rage, evidently quite
beside himself, as he endeavoured to edge away
towards the shelter of a rock, from the other side of
which he could, we knew, call for help to the picquet
on the next hill and make a fuss generally.
Vincent talks Japanese fluently enough, and he tried
to reason with our ally, telling him who we were and
where we came from, but it was all of no sort of
use ; he might as well have addressed himself to the
winds. The man was completely distraught. Never
shall I forget the picture he made, or the alternating
Expressions of fear and fury which passed across his
face. He looked, with his green clothes and his staff
and his stamping foot and his mingled glances of
horror and rage as if he had escaped from some &iry
tale to torment us. At last I stepped forward
— he would have struck me had I come within
distance — and put my card, whereon my rank and
name were clearly written in Japanese characters,
on a big stone. I suppose the idea that raiding
Cossacks do not first present their visiting cards to
their intended victims must then have penetrated
his mind. Any way, still keeping his staff raised in
readiness to strike, he cautiously approached the stone
n s
274 A Staff Officeb's Scbap-Book
after I had as cautiously withdrawn, holding my hands
well outstretched so as to show that no treachery lurked
behind my modest bit of pasteboard. Then, when from
the comer of his eye he had mastered the inscription,
he did at last become half convinced that we were not as
we seemed, but, on the contrary, a pair of honest gentle-
men out for air and exercise. He saluted, and we even
had some conversation.
A military attach^ must never lose an opportunity.
Whether in love or war, recreation or work, he has to
keep a sharp look-out not to lose the smallest chance
of gaining information. So, as soon as we ascertained
that our new acquaintance was a doctor, we questioned
^im about his hospitals. He told us he had been
absolutely chock fiill ever since the middle of August.
He had kept careful notes of the description of wounds
in his own hospital, and had often discussed the point
with his brother medicos ; and he thought that if bullet
wounds were put at 100, shrapnel wounds would stand
at a ratio of about 20 and bayonet wounds at 2.
He had been with the First Army since February, but
he had never heard of our existence until now. Even
after this agreeable conversation, our new friend was
by no means at his ease. So he removed himself troxa
our society as soon as he could politely do so, and after^
wards we saw him deep in consultation with the non-
commissioned officer and some men of a neighbouring
post, who were all regarding us with much interest.
I have come to the fixed determination not to go out
again without a Japanese soldier as escort. Two days
ago, as I ran round a hillock to warm my feet, I had a
loaded rifle pointed slap at me by a sentry, and I have
always thought the habit of levelling firearms at
people's heads unnecessarily dangerous. Yesterday a
The Littls Man in Gbeen 275
gendarme pulled out a revolver at Vinceiiti making him
80 voluble in Japanese that if only the examiner at
Tokio could have heard him, he would have passed, I
am sure, with honours ; and to-day we have had the
worst adventure of alL For there is not a shadow of
doubt in mj mind that had our doctor possessed a
revolver, it would have been a case of shooting first
and explanations afterwards. I am fond of adventures,
and, at one time or another, a goodly number have
come my way, but enough is as good as a feast. To be
shot by a doctor would be a silly end to a life which
has afforded me some interest. Ended by ja doctor
some day I must be, I admit. It is the common
fate, but a pistol is not a legitimate weapon for the
purpose.
CHAPTER XXXIV
BANQUETS AND REVELS
Hanlasakshi, October 21st, 1904. — ^A bitterly oold
wind is blowing, although there is not yet anything
specifically Siberian about the temperature — not more
than four or five degrees of frost at most, I fancy. I
went for another walk with Vincenti but after our ex-
perience of yesterday we made a sergeant-major come
with us, although it was much against the grain. He
thinks we are mad thus to clamber up and down moun-
tains for no ostensible profit or amusement.
Our companion was in an unusually communicative
mood. He would not admit that any soldiers were
tired of war's alarms or anxious to seek repose in the
bosom of their fiimilies, except perhaps a few of the
city-bred men. I see that he considers it natural that
a cockney should be less enduring in his patriotism
than a rustic.
I am inclined to agree. A peasant cultivating even
the tiniest patch of his own is in rather a different
mental relation towards his country from a merchant
who mainly makes money out of it, or a factory hand
who draws upon it for wages. He owns a bit of it.
I have seen stretches of a foreign country &rmed
on a big scale with machinery and hired labour and
hard by I have compared it with a succession of
small holdings. From the point of view of farmings
Banquets and Bevels 277
there is no comparison. Cultivation on the grand
scale brings most out of mother earth. But, from the
point of view of humanity, there is no comparison
either. The peasant owner is a man ; a proud, strong,
independent man, who has a stake in his country.
Those are the fellows we want as soldiers ; the yeomen
who have been from the beginning of history and will
to be its end, the very backbone of empires.
From the subject of the soldiers, our non-com-
missioned officer went on to remark that the Japanese
nation would not feel they had received full value
in the way of a war unless they had casualties
totalling up to at least 200,000. He thinks the
First Army is getting on very nicely, as one-third
of those who embarked in February for Korea have
now either died or returned sick to Japan. We do
not regard our wars from such a standpoint; nor I
fancy do the Japanese either ; but it pleases him to say
so, and certainly I have often had occasion to notice
that, far from attempting to minimise their losses, our
aUies are. if anything, inclined to exaggerate them. I
think our friend is spinning yams for our benefit. He
informs us that the people of Kyushu are of a fickle,
fiery and impulsive temperament {Ki ga michigai). The
Twelfth Division are entirely drawn from Kyushu, and
they are desperate fellows for an attack, for when their
blood is up there is nothing that will stop them. The
best bluejackets come from near Shimonoseki and from
Yamaguchi and Kigoshima. The best soldiers in the
army, by common consent, are the Second Division
from Sendai. They are men whose character is solid
and reliable, and who are not too quick-tempered.
Finally we were told that at the Penchiho night attack
the Russians shouted out a sentence of Japanese which
278 A Staff Officbe's Scrap-Book
they had learnt by heart, '^ The Bussians are comings
the Russians are coming 1 " " However," added our
informant, " they did not come so very far afber all."
It is, perhaps, hardly worth while burdening my note-
book with such bald chat, but just for once in a way
it is as well to include a record of the opinions, queer,
partial and uninformed as they may be, of a non-
commissioned officer of cavalry.
In the afternoon I went over a Field Hospital
belonging to the Second Division at Sankashi. There
are altogether 780 of the Division in hospital, of
whom only SO are sick, the rest being wounded. Six-
teen wounded Russians have been brought in, but all,
except one, have been sent away. The doctor who
took us round told us that more than one half of the
wounds were from shrapnel bullets, and that there are
only ten bayonet wounds now under treatment. Both
these statements would, however, be misleading unless
supplemented by the further information we received
during our inspection, namely, that the excess of
shrapnel wounds was mainly owing to the whole of
Okasaki's Brigade getting bunched up on Terayama
immediately after its capture, when they were sub-
jected to a very severe bombardment ; secondly, to the
fact that the Russian bayonet with its thin weak
shaft and blunt chisel point does not penetrate a thick
coat, but almost invariably bends. We have all seen
bent Russian bayonets lying about the scenes of con-
flict, so this is no doubt true, and must be a very
encouraging factor to the Japanese moral when they
come to close quarters with their adversaries. The
pluck of the patients we saw was quite admirable.
They are one and all burning to get back to their
regiments; so much so indeed, that the doctors say
Banqxtets and Bevels 279
they fret, and that their recovery is thereby retarded.
The politeness of the brave fellows is almost super-
human. The sick, even those sick unto death, try to
raise themselves on their hands and knees to bow to
the foreign officers.
In the evening I met a friend on the Staff who had
just come back from an interview with the Marshal
Oyama. In the course of conversation, the great
Marquis said, " If the First Army does not take any
guns, it cannot expect a Kanjo (letter of appreciation),
to which my friend, playing on the word, replied,
" Your Excellency need not trouble, we will get our
Komjo (they must pay the shot) from the enemy."
Hanlasanshi, October 2bih. — Jardine has returned
full of information after a ten days' stay with a cavalry
regiment. His first appearance was an awful shock,
and he overheard the cavalry colonel utter the
Japanese equivalent for d when he was told a
foreigner had come to be attached to his command.
Every one I think will have full sympathy for his
sentiments. Nothing however could have been kinder
than his treatment of Jardine. He and five other
officers shared a small Chinese room 12 feet by 12 feet,
and he was able, from the facilities placed at his
disposal, to get an idea of pretty well everything
that went on from orderly room and drill to recon-
naissance and manoeuvre.
To combine exercise with news, I took him with me
for a walk to Bayonet Knoll, the little hill on which I
saw the Kussian detachment circumvented by a section
of Matsunaga's men from Daisan. (Sketch XXIY.)
Looking over the ground I refreshed my memory ot
that dramatic little affair, and realised, even more
forcibly than on the 11th instant, what a striking
280 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
example it had furnished of the excellence of the
Japanese soldier. His love of fighting and his in-
dividuality combine to render him almost independent
of leadership and formations, once he has been &irly
launched on the attack. The fimctions of the Japanese
o£Bcers are mainly to administer and to instruct.
Their leading is noble, could not be more dashing ; but
it is not really so necessary in battle as it is with most
other nations. The question of f onnations is vital in
Europe, because they are one of the instruments
whereby commanders endeavour to bring their troops
to the desired spot with a minimum of loss, and make
available, at the right moment, the requisite weight
of fire or steel to break through the enemy's defence.
But, if every private soldier is absolutely determined
to get to close quarters with his foe, and is sufficiently
intelligent to use ground to the best advantage in
doing so, then half at least, and the most difficult half,
of the objects sought by drill, formations and leader-
ship is already a national attribute. This is doubtless
what was meant by a festive officer in the far-away
days of Fenghuangcheng, when he insisted on how
much more quickly the Japanese could turn a peasant
into a soldier than the Germans.
10 P.M. — Colonel Satow has brought us a telegram
saying that the Baltic Fleet has simk one British ship
and damaged two others in the Dover Straits. No
one can understand what this means, and many dis-
believe it.
Hanlasanshi, October 27th, 1904. — Hume has come
back from seeing the Japanese recapture Waitosan from
the Bussians. As it projects weU out into the valley of
the Shaho, the Japanese should now be able to keep an
eye on the proceedings of the enemy. Hume gave us a
Banqubts and Rbvbls 281
▼ivid aooount of a BuBsian officer rallying his men after
the J had fairly forsaken their trenches. He ran after
them, stopped them, entreated them, and finally brought
them back in a fine rush which recaptured the trenches,
into which only about a dozen Japanese had so far
penetrated. A gallant fellow ! Let us hope he got the
cross of St. Qeorge. There was a celebration to-day of
the victory on Okasaki Tama. Okasaki himself rode a
very fine captured Russian horse.
Haklasanshi, October 2Sth, 1904. — ^An officer of the
Manchurian Army Headquarters Staff rode over to see
us, and to discuss the Bussian Baltic Fleet and its
strange behaviour. I do not think the incident will end
in war, but many here are of a different opinion.
I was told that the captured Japanese guns had been
used already to fire back at our lines along the Shaho.
Also that two of them had been paraded through the
streets of Mukden. I asked what was the attitude of the
Chinese Governor, and was answered by a Japanese
proverb, ^' He waits until he sees the colour of the
standard/'
Hanlasanshi, October 29th, 1904. — ^Nothing to-day
but excitement about the Bussian fleet and our fisher
boats. The Japanese are greatly stirred.
Hanlasanshi, October 30th, 1904. — Baltics are flat
to-day.
Hanlasanshi, November 3rd, 1904.— This is the
auspicious date on which the Emperor celebrates his
birthday. Immediately after luncheon, I put on my
sword, and went round to congratulate General Kuroki
and his Imperial Highness Prince Kuni. I found them
both sitting in a little tent which was pitched in the
courtyard of their house. The Prince unfortunately was
suffering from a touch of influenza. We were having the
282 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
Tisual sort of conversation, when everything was illu-
minated by the entrance upon the scene of the gallant
General Okasaki, wearing all his medals and waving in
his hand a small Japanese flag. He was, in feet, as gay
and debonair as a man ought to be on his wedding-day.
He gave his little flag, with a flourish, to Prince Kuni ;
he caught Vincent by both hands over some small joke,
and shook him to and fro in pretended annoyance. In
fa<)t, he was essentially human and delightful, more like
a vivacious Irishman in high good spirits than the
reserved and very correct Japanese.
I told him he must go a bit slower in his victorious
career, or he would kill the unfortunate foreign
attach^ who, hard as they may work with their pens
and ink to keep pace with his exploits, were yet left
hopelessly in arrears. He said, pointing to General
Euroki, *^ My instructions came from his Excellency ; I
passed them on to my regimental commanders, and they
and their men carried them out to a successful issue ! "
I asked him if some tea he had sent me long ago in a
present had been grown in his own garden, when he
laughed very much and said, ** The tea was Russian tea,
and the garden it sprang from was my sword."
When we got back we had a grand dinner, and went
afterwards to the play, which was held in a Russian
barrack-room. Our entrance disturbed the " turn "
which was in progress, and the proceedings were still
more interrupted by soldiers bringing us each a little
bowl of claret, served with dried fish cakes and sweet
biscuits. An English audience would probably have
been annoyed, but the Japanese certainly were not.
Then, to my surprise. Marquis rose, and, thumping
on a table for silence, turned towards the audience and
began to speak. I caught my own name, and then every
Baxquets and Beysls 283
one in the theatre stood up ; so it suddenly flashed
across me that I was being introduced to the crowd. I
jumped to my feet, and bowed respectfiiUy in every
direction. This seemed to be all correct and in order,
and the people were just about to sit down when the
Post Commandant began a speech, saying that the
foreign officers and the Lieutenant-General had done
him a great honour in coming to witness his poor enter-
tainment, and that he must apologise for its roughness,
poverty, and general inadequacy for such an occasion,
to which I made what reply I best could.
The curtain was a red blanket held up by two
Boldier8, who lay down on a given signal LtLd of
rising, therefore, it feU, and the play then began ; not
exactly a play, but what the Japanese call a sword dance.
The actor had to avenge his brother, and he went
through a pantomime of adoring his sword and of kiUing
a man with it. All this took a very long time, and was
ereatlv appreciated by the audience. I admired the
Ughtning quickness with which he whipped out the
blade, and delivered the deadly sweeping cut from
under.
Next appeared a Chinaman from the village, who
gave us a love-song on a sort of zither. He played well,
laying his instrument flat upon the stage, and striking
it with two little hammers. He was a man of middle
age, of an intellectual type of countenance. Indeed, a
serene and noble-looking man. Some people think
Chinese and Japanese resemble one another. I can only
say that it is impossible to conceive any members of the
human race less like one another than the Japanese
warrior, with menacing gestures, waving, glittering
sword, bare arms, and a wisp of white cloth knotted
tightly round his temples, and, on the other hand, the
284 A Staff Officer's Sgbap-Book
mild and melancholy performer on the zither. After
the love-song, Nakamura produced a great effect by
coming out in front of the curtain and announcing, '^ A
very, very pretty girl will now sing ! "
All things are possible, and there was quite a sensa-
tion. The curtain fell, and before us stood a brawny
soldier of the line dressed as a geisha, who was received
with a roar of amused disappointment. But he proved
to be a dancer light as air, and sang, too, of love and
cherry blossoms as if he had been to the manner bom.
Last of all, a Chinese band took possession of the
stage and &irly let themselves go. I never heard such
a row. An earnest old man beat a drmn even more
conscientiously than the gentlemen with pince-nez who
perform at Mr. Wood's concerts in the Queen's Hall ;
not intermittently, however, but continuously like the
drum at the end of Tchaiko&ky's 1812 symphony.
There were cymbals large and loud, and cymbals small
and piercing. A big gong of the " come to dinner "
sort. A small gong set in a frame and struck every
half-second by a boy armed with a miniature polo
stick. Two reed instrumentalists who, in their efforts
to compete with the cymbals, blew out their cheeks to
an extent I should not have believed possible. Either
Chinamen have stronger lungs than Europeans or else
the walls of their cheeks must be much more elastic.
Last on my list, but not least in performance, was the
player of what miist certainly be the germ from which
sprang our church organs. A powerfrd musician,
scarlet and perspiring from his exertions, blew hurri-
canes into a thing which looked like an average-sized
teapot through a pipe which resembled an average
teapot spout. Bound the teapot were set pipes, the
longest about one foot, the shortest perhaps four or
Bakqubtb and Revbls 285
five inches. These had holes cut within half an inch
of their base, just like the holes in an organ pipe.
Altogether this astonishing band has, I believe, enabled
me to realise the feelings of the Philistine who goes to
hear Wagner because it is the fashion.
The end of all things was the entry of a body of
stalwart line of communications troops, who marched in
with steady tramp in double rank, halted, fronted, and
sang the National Anthem,*" in which we all joined,
standing up at ^' attention '' in our places.
CoAL-MiNBS, November Athy 1904. — General reaction
after yesterday. Sumino tells me that arrangements
are made when a free issue of sak^ is issued to the
troops on such an occasion as yesterday to provide
total abstainers with an alternative, so that it should
not be possible to say the State was encouraging the
vice of drinking. Thus yesterday three-fifths of the
army refused sak^ and received in lieu a packet of
sweetmeats. There is a camp rumour to the efiect that
Kuropatkin has destroyed all the bridges in rear of his
army, so that the next battle must be a case of victory
or death. This supposed desperate resolve is, however,
somewhat discounted by the fact that within a couple
of weeks the rivers will be frozen solid.
CoAL-MiKES, November 9tA, 1904. — ^When I got up
* The Japanese national anthem is difficult to translate. The literal
Engliah equivalent is as follows : '* DyiiBaty of the Emperor, 1000
years and 8000 years, till pebbles lined with moss and became a big
stone.'' I am sure it cannot be satisfactorily rendered into ordinary
smooth English verses. But, greatly daring, I venture to submit
a humble attempt to reproduce the idea and the swing :
The great rocks — ^the great rocks and the pebble stones
Suffer change, sad and strange.
The Emperor ! The Emperor and his dynasty-
Gods divine — deathless line I
286 A Staff Officer's Sgbap-Book
this morning at 7 o'clock I found the whole place in
confusion^ several fatigue-parties being busily engaged
in covering the house with flags. It was the King's
birthday, and by-and-by ofiBicers began to come in
with congratulations, and even sometimes with highly
acceptable gifts. At 8 o'clock Captain Tanaka
appeared, bringing with him an enormous case of the
best champagne as a present from the Marquis
Oyama. So as to be first in the field he had started
in the dark and bitter cold at 6 a.m. from Manchuriau
Army Headquarters. Another officer arrived con«
ve3ring the felicitations of Generals Eodama and
Fukushima. Next came Lieutenant-Colonel Eurita
on behalf of Greneral Euroki, accompanied by the
adjutant of His Imperial Highness Prince Euni»
and, in short, I found myself drinking the King's
health in champagne and holding an informal sort of
lev^ between the hours of eight and eleven. Tanaka
was the last to leave, and he celebrated the auspicious
occasion by dedicating to me three poems about Euro*
patkin, which he signed " Tonmiy Atkins."
I will first give my English rendering; then the
Japanese with the literal translations. The first
verse is all a skilful punning play on the names of
the leading generals. Thus Europato, the black
pigeon ; Oyama, big mountain ; Euroki, black tree ; &c.
THE ENEMY'S CHIEF.*
No. 1.
In the great mountain, by the eternal snows,
So far it i8,a gloomy forest grows,
'Neath whioh dark bloodstains mark the fatal spot
Where the black pigeon felt the deadly shotJ
* In Japanese Kuropatkin means Black
I «i^
Banquets and Revels 287
No. 2.
He turned to gase once more on Bama's shrine : —
O'er all its memories of mirth and wine
The same moon shone! He sparred his chai'ger white *
And vanished like a snowstonn in the night.
No. 8.
The mountains shake and shudder to their oore,
As Echo spreads the cannon's hollow roar ;
The pigeon, the black pigeon, wings his flight
For distant Adds before the fall of night.
No: 1.
Kurqpaio no bakuyei.
Oyama no Ohu no Koda/ma ni
osoreken
Kwroki hato yoyo
Nozumai wo shite.
Far up in the great mountain in black trees he brought
down a black pigeon with a small bullet.
No. 2.
Furikaeri Tekisho ikami
Nagameken ikuyo
minareshi ramato no
tswki.
Turning back the enemy's chief gases upon and sees how
night after night used to look the moon of Bama's pagoda
No. 8*
The black pigeon frightened by the echoes in the mountains
flies to sleep '' in the field " during the night.
At night a grand banquet was given in honour of
our King. The walls of the dining-hall were decorated
with Japanese flags, and also with the word ^^ Hurrah ! "
done in huge Gothic letters by Nakamura. The letters
were formed by pasting yellow kaoliung seeds upon
a white background, and gave the effect of old gold*
* According to the Japanese, Kuropatkin always rode a white
horse.
288 A Staff Offigkb's Sobap-Book
The table was gay with flowers and dwarf flowering
bushes which the soldiers had constructed with infinite
trouble out of brushwood, upon which (after bending
it to the true artistic curves) thej had stuck bunches
of cotton wool and small flowers cut out of carrots.
There were also any number of white and yellow roses
most cunningly devised out of tissue paper.
After dinner and speeches we adjourned to the
next room, and Nakamura gave a performance pre-
tending to be something or some one. I forget exactly
what it was all about, but I know he imitated animals
and, in our exhilarated condition, made us laugh until
the tears ran down our cheeks. All this time the
band of the Imperial Guards, which had been sent
down to do honour to the occasion, had been playing
very vigorously, and it was to the strains of a polka
that Sergeant-Major Watanabe entered the ante-
room. He had been wondering for some days how he
could pay me the greatest compliment, and he had
determined that as I was there as representative of
the Army of India, he would get himself up as a native
of Hindustan. Accordingly he painted his face coal
black, and put on a heavy fur coat, hair outwards-
He looked extraordinary, and made us roar with
laughter, and was altogether a great success, for he is
ordinarily an austere man with very high standards of
discipline and decorum. On entering, he presented
me with his visiting card, on which was written " The
Honourable Mr. India."
Next came Sergeant-Major Sumino, dressed as a
fashionable Chinese lady, in a bodice and skirt of
beautiful flowered silk. Then a soldier of the train
made his appearance costumed as a geisha in wig and
kimono, the latter only a red blanket, but so wonder^
Banquets and Revels 289
Ailly manipulated with pins and strings that it caused
the more sentimental to sigh.
Lastly, four band boys, attired as European ladies,
appeared upon the scene, and danced a set of lancers
with four bandsmen. Nothing could exceed the
painstaking punctilio with which they ploughed
through their figures. It was most amusing to see
these extraordinary looking females working away in
so solemn and correct a style at their fi^ivolous task.
After this I thought it was full time for Lieutenant-
Generals to go to bed. A child has to take itself ofi*
just when the fun gets fast and furious, and men over
forty-five should learn to do the same. When I did
turn in, it was with a strong feeling that nowhere in
the wide dominions of the King had his birthday
begun earlier or lasted longer than at the coal-mines of
YentaL
November 23rd, 1904. — Just returned from a
luncheon with the Marquis Oyama and General
Kodama.
I must say the latter is a marvel. He was ten
hosts in one. Told stories. Boared with laughter.
Shouted. Drank toasts with every one all round. I
watched him and saw him in the midst of all his
jollity, forced jollity, no doubt, but still extraordinai'ily
well forced. I watched him, and I saw how, when
Marquis Oyama occasionally took up the parable, or
when, from some other cause he was free to drop out,
his face fell instantly into lines of the deepest concen-
tration and thought. Once I observed him casting his
keen, penetrating glance over us one by one, sizing
us up to a nicety I am certain. Somehow he brought
to my mind the line,
" Ambition pale of cheek and ever watchful with fatigued eje.'^
II T
CHAPTEE XXXV
NAKAMURA ENCOUNTERS SANTA CLAUS
Coal-Mikes, November 29th, 1904. — ^I heard yesterday
that Okasaki was iU and was going back to Japan this
morning. So I walked down after breakfast to see
him off at the Yentai railway station. When I got
there I was told that Okasaki's train would not start
for some little time, but that the General was at the
Post Commandant's house, and would be glad to see me
if I cared to come up. I walked across at once and
was shown into an empty room. After a few minutes
the gallant General came in, and his appearance gave
me a terrible shock. Last time I had seen him was
upon the Emperor's birthday, when he was the very
personification of careless, rollicking joviality. He
had been through all his bloody battles and had
emerged ever^victorious, without so much as a scratch.
The most famous man, perhaps, in the Army. I can
never forget him on that occasion bursting into the
tent waving his little flag — so fit and jolly. And
now, what was this ? A grey, haggard figure in a
long, full-skirted, shroud-like dressing-gown, with a
small red cross worked upon the sleeves, whilst the
whole of his head and neck, excepting just the face,
were swathed in white bandages. He looked exactly
like an animated corpse. He begged us to seat our-
sdlTes by the hibachi with his old familiar gesture, but
NAKAMtJttA Encounters Santa Claus 291
we were horrified and could not. I just said, ** I have
come. General, to wish you bon voyage and au revoir.'^
He said, *' I have got this tiresome tumour, which my
friends assure me will be better operated upon at
Hiroshima than here ; so I have yielded to their im-
portunities and am going very quickly so as to get
back again also as quickly as possible." This was
very pitiable. I felt the sentiment of sorrow rise
quite painfully in my heart. I said, *^ My General,
we all await your early return, and until you come
back you leave us, at any rate, the famous mountain,
Okasaki Yama, the scene of your greatest exploit, by
which to bear you afiectionately in mind." The others
told me afterwards that my remark seemed to please
him, but I felt rather overcome at seeing the poor
wasted body and drawn features of one who had been
so preux chevalier — so famoused in fight — and could
not notice much more. For we shall never see him
again. Sic itur ad astra. Vanity, vanity, all is
vanity, saith the preacher.*
December Ist^ 1904. — Have spent a long day inspect*
ing the 80th Begiment under the French-speaking
Colonel Kawasaki. The men are living in excava-
tions rather than in houses, that is to say, the roofe
are only about two feet above the ground, whilst the
floors are about eight feet below the ground. After
luncheon the Colonel, pointing to the red slip with
Chinese characters on it which was pasted over the
door, said, ^* Every Chinese house contains that notice.
The characters signify good fortune and happiness, and
it is considered a good thing if the owner on awakening
* To the delight and surprise of every one, including the doctors,
Okasaki did recover and came hack again in the course of a few
months.
292 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
in the morning lets his eyes first rest upon words of
such good omen." Kawasaki went on to tell us that
in one villajre a rich Chinaman with a fine house
lagged f b:«c««d havbg soldiers biUetsd upon him
on the plea that all the rooms were occupied by women
and children. After some argument he was allowed
to have his way, and a notice was being written out, in
the ordinary course, with a paint brush and Indian ink
upon white paper, to say that the house was privileged
and that Japanese soldiers were forbidden to enter it.
The Chinaman watched the preparation of this notice
with great apparent interest, and when it was ready
asked what was going to be done with it. " Oh,"
said Colonel Kawasaki, '' it will be pasted upon the
outside of your door.'' The Chinaman seemed much
disturbed, and after some hesitation he begged that
the paper might be destroyed, as he had changed his
mind and would place his quarters at the disposal of
the soldiers. On inquiry the Colonel found that black
characters on white paper are just about as unlucky a
combination as it is possible for a Chinaman to en-
counter. Presumably, if this villager ever reaches
London town, his literature will be confined to the
Pink ' Un and the Westminster Gazette.
CoAL-MiNBS, December 5th, 1904. — The thermo-
meter touched zero for the first time last night. There
is a cave in front of our army which is occupied by the
Bussians at night and by the Japanese in the day-
time. The Bussians recently left the cave in a very
dirty condition, so the Japanese wrote a note asking
that their mutual abode might be kept cleaner. This
note was deposited upon the ground, together with a
bottle of brandy, when they marched out in the
evening. Next morning the cave was clean, and a
Nakamura Encountebs Santa Glaus 293
rouble was lying on the ground to pay for the brandy.
There was also a note saying that in future the cave
should be kept clean , but that all the same the
Japanese were devils to kill all the wounded.
Hagino is now inditing an epistle, with enclosures,
showing the number of Bussian wounded who are
actually in Japanese hospitals. This also will be lefb
in the cave post-office.
CoAL-MiNBS, December ^th, 1904. — Bitter, bitter
cold. I hear that the troops at the front are seriously
embarrassed by the fact that the rice on its passage
to the advanced trenches turns into ponderous marble
blocks upon which a bayonet produces no great effect.
Imagine being served up a chunk of marble for dinner
with the thermometer at zero !
CoAL-MiNES, December 9thy 1904. — Two hundred
ducks and chickens, our winter's store, were put on
the roof by the cook last night, and they are all, every
single one, frozen to death this morning I
CoAL-MiNES, December 19th, 1904. — Have been
very busy report writing, and have had nothing special
to record for a long tune, except interviews and
consultations regarding medical and transport ques-
tions. To-day we had a meeting to test the captured
Bussian rifles. The targets were of the ordinary
bull's-eye pattern and the distance was about 600
yards. The stop butt was Ishi Yama. I little thought
on October 12th that I should ever be firing a rifle
against Ishi Yama myself I The Bussian rifles are
sighted for firing with the bayonet fixed, and we had
to use them without a bayonet, which made the
shooting most difficult. Luckily we were allowed two
sighting shots, and after my second try I found it was
necessary to aim about three yards below the target
294 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
and about five yards to the left of it. The result i^as
a splendid triumph for the British army. Colonel
Hume won the first prize, tieing with a Japanese
adjutant, and I won the second prize, dean. Hoifr
delighted Lord Roberts would have been with our
success, for we are both members of his old team
which, in its day, has won some notable victories in
India. I got a very nice prize indeed; a barrel of
pickled cabbages.
I have now got a small Chinese boy, aged about
twelve, to help to light the stove and clean my lamp.
I asked him to-day if he liked Bussians and he replied
indignantly, " No ! " Asked again, " Why not ? " he
said, " They have big noses and eyes." I suppose if
bad boys in England were asked why they flung a
stone at a Chinaman they might very probably say,
*' Because they have small eyes and no noses."
CoAL-MiNES, Z)6cem6er 22nd, 1904. — Vincent and I
have had a delightful outing. We went to a quiet
luncheon, just our two selves, with General Kodama,
Chief of the General Staff. Had a Cossack patrol
passed that way there was nothing to show them that
Yentai village was the abode of Manchurian Army
Headquarters, except perhaps the numerous conveiging
telegraph and telephones lines which centred at the
brain of the military organism. No guards, no patrols,
hardly any troops, just a common Chinese village. We
were shown in at once to the quarters of the Chief of
the Staff, quite a small building. The General's room
was about twelve feet by fifteen feet. A Bussian
drum filled with charcoal embers was the hibachi, and
the furniture consisted of one table, two broken-down
chairs, and several boxes of maps.
I started by saying that I did not intend to ask any
Nakamuba Enoocjntbbs Santa Claus 295
questions about the present state of affiiirs, but added
that if General Kodama would enlighten me on a few
obscure points regarding the past events, his views
would be of inestimable value.
His Excellency spent an hour and a half telling me
all I wanted to know, and seemed in the best of spirits
and full of keenness.
He showed me his left wrist, the bone of which had
been injured in the Satsuma rebellion, and I was able
to respond by showing him my left wrist, the bone of
which had been injured at Majuba.
I told him I had that day received a request for an
autograph from a small boy at Osaka, and he showed
me a pile of applications fh)m school children which,
he said, he always met as far as he could. He pro-
duced a postcard written by his grandchild, aged three,
wishing him a safe and early return. Then we began
to talk about His Excellency's old life when he was
Governor of Formosa. He was very much interested
and pleased to narrate his experiences in that capacity,
and he showed me a photograph of his house there,
which is a stately and beautiful edifice.
At this stage luncheon was brought in. Very
delicious. Soup, duck, Formosa oranges, Kioto cakes,
and red wine. At 1.10 p.m. a wire arrived from Port
Arthur, which General Kodama at once read out. It
was to say that west of Sei-ho-han, where a peninsula
sticks out into Pigeon Bay, one gun had been taken.
The Bussians tried a counter-attack, but &iiled.
Isaid to General Kodamalhad brought him luck, and
he agreed, saying that he had not expected this excellent
news so soon. The point now captured should com-
mand the road by which supplies have until now been
entering the town nightly from junks in Pigeon Bay.
296 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
After lunch we took our leave, very grateful for all
the kindness we had received, and especially for the
many useful notes we had obtained for our official
reports.
CoAL-MiNES, Christmas Dciyy 1904. — I rode over
this morning to make my salaams at the headquarters
of the Second Army. I am sure the people at home,
especially those in London, have not half as fine a day
as we have here. There is a gentle breeze fi'om the
south and a bright sun, and under influences so genial
the thermometer has risen to within four or five
degrees of thawing-point, a temperature which
makes our Arctic furs seem almost oppressive. The
country was powdered with dazzling snow, and our
ride across the bloody fields of Terayama and Sank-
waisekisan was most peaceful and lovely to the
view, although up against the soft southern wind a
muffled cannonade kept ever rumbling and muttering
from behind the rampart of the northerly ridge of
mountains.
In the evening we had a great feast. Mistletoe in
abundance, a wretched mockery under the circum-
stances. I thought of the previous year, and of how
we all stood before the porch and draining our glasses
flung them lordly (they were not ours) on the ground.
The cold and frosty stars had twinkled above us, and
in the intoxication of that sweet moment the absence
of mistletoe passed unnoticed by all.
Each member of the company of foreign officers
felt probably some such sad contrast, for the gaiety
was forced, so at least it seemed to me. But one little
figure was determined to be gay ; truly gay, and not
only in seeming. This was Nakamura, our interpreter^
who climbed up painfully on to the side table, blinking
.^H
Nakamuba Encountebs Santa Claus 297
like a young owl behind his spectacles, whence he
delivered, with surprising boldness, the following
oration :
" Gentlemen, — I had too much to read last night
and was sitting up till it was very late. So I could
not get up this morning, when a strange old man was
standing in my room. I knew surely that he was
Santa Glaus. I jumped upon my bed, and respectfully
but merrily bid him ' A Merry Ghristmas.' He was
pleased, and handed me a letter, as well as a bag, to
deliver to you. But when I saw the address on the
envelope, it was written, * Dear Ghildren, Huangpu
Goal-mine, Manchuria.' I was quite puzzled, for, as
you know, there is no children in this house, and told
him of that. He looked quite astonished, and stared
on my face for a while. Then he laughed, and laughed
heartily, and said, * My child, do you think you are a
grown up man ? ' I said, ' Yes.' * Oh no,' he said to
me, * You are only a baby.' And again, * Do you
think General Hamilton is an old man ? ' ' Yes, I do,
and he is the eldest of all.' ' No, no,' he said, ' he is
also my boy.' I was quite stupefied, but he asked me
once more, * Do you think Gaptain Hoffmann is a large
man ? ' I said, * Yes, of course, he is so tall and big
as Gorias.' * Oh no, my child,' he said, ' they are all
my children, and by dear children here I mean all
seventeen people in this house.' When I thought I
could understand him, he jumped upon his sledge a'nd
ran off to the northerly direction." (Hoots, jeers,
and loud cries of " Spy ! Spy ! ! He must have been
a Spy.")*
* In our reports the stock phrase used to be that the Russians
were retiring " in a northerly direction."
298 A Staff Officer's Scbap-Book
'' Now» Gentlemen, here is the letter. Let me read
itr—
" ' Dbab Ghildben, — I am much pleased, for you have
been perfectly good through this year. I don't like to
see two boys are quarrelling now. They are very
naughty. I hope they will shake their friendly hands
again before I will come next time. (Cheers.)
"*I left a bag with your good General ' (laughter and
whistling) ^Nakamura to open it before you this
evening. Now goodbye, my children, I wish you a
Merry Christmas !
" • Your old friend,
'' ' Santa Claus.' "
The speech was received with rapturous applause,
for we are all very fond of Nakamura, who is the most
unselfish and obliging of interpreters. Simple as he
seems and transparent, yet, as with most Japanese,
there is more in him than meets the eye, and although
he has served us continuously during the past eight
months, no one had ever suspected him of being the
possessor of so much courage and esprit We were as
much surprised, and almost as greatly pleased, as must
have been the mother of Demosthenes when she heard
him speak for the first time after his pebble practice on
the beach.
CoAii-MiNEs, December 26th, 1904. — Every one is
very late in consequence of the number of last night's
toasts. After breakfast, Nakamura came into my
room with a large card, and begged me to write upon
it a verse of poetry which should include his own name.
He encouraged me to believe that if I could rise to the
occasion, the card would be handed down as an ancestral
heirloom in the Nakamura family. I cannot imagine
Sir Ian Hauilton and " RoosKr," December 1904
Nakamura Enoountebs Santa Glaus 299
&mily of small Nakamuras, and I am greatly
thered by the name^ but, in gratitude for his ad-
rable speech last night, I managed to concoct this
lymeforhim:
TO THE ENGLISH INTERPRETER WITH
THE FIRST ARMY
Tou storm the bloodj fortress ditch
And otherwise defeat the Russian,
But do it in a lingo which
Sounds strange as English to a Prussian ;
Twere hopeless did we l^ck as sure a
Translator as our Nakamura.
OoAL-MiNES, New Year's Day, 1905. — Had quite
a quiet dinner last night. As the clock struck twelve
America and Great Britain foregathered and drank a
bottle of Oyama's champagne, exchanging affectionate
good wishes for the prosperity of our mutual nations
during the coming year. I doubt if people in England
realise the special kindness shown by all Americans to
British officers in foreign countries. They look upon
us as a sort of Prodigal Mother, and kill the fatted
calf accordingly.
I went over in the forenoon to pay my respects to
General Kuroki, and heard that a Cossack officer had
come out under a white flag and had received per-
mission to converse for half an hour with a Japanese
officer. It was stipulated that no military matters
were to be discussed. The confabulation lasted three
hours, and the Cossack says he will bring a dozen oi
his comrades with him next time. The language was
French.
II P.M. — Only a few minutes ago I was writing in
the dead sileace of the night wherein no one but
myself seemed to be alive. I love such moments when
300 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
the last tiresome sounds of conversation have died
away, and it is possible, for a brief interval, to enjoy
the calm of reflection. Suddenly, up rose a strange,
fierce song floating through the calm air of thei spacious
night. In cadence and tone it recalled the dervish
chants which bade us prepare for battle in the
memorable nights when we bivouacked on the banks
of the Nile. This must surely be the psean of trixmiph
over the fall of Port Arthur. All the soldiers are
singing . . . just as I realised what had happened,
I heard hurried footsteps and the clank of a sword come
swiftly down the passage. The door was flung open,
and , his face a pale livid colour, and his eyes blazing
with excitement, stood on the threshold. For one
moment he stood there motionless, with only his face
twitching and working, then, throwing his arms up
over his head, he shrieked out, " Port Arthur ist
gef alien ! " and disappeared to carry on the great news.
Afterwards Nakamura came in to thank me for what
he was pleased to call " my unfailing sympathy," I
am sympathetic, and yet to-night I cannot help feeling
sad for the vanquished.
CoAL-MiNES, January 2nd, 1905. — Have sent in
an application to Marquis Oyama begging permission
to visit Port Arthur. I asked the staff* officer through
whom I made the request, if he would not like to come
also, to which he replied by the Japanese proverb,
" The housewife cannot leave the house 1 "
The foreign officers went again to the play. It was
held in the same Cossack barrack-room, and the
audience must have numbered at least one thousand
soldiers. In the middle of the room, just between the
pit and stalls, was a table covered with beer bottles,
dishes of fried fish, slices of preserved bamboo, pickled
Nakamura Encounters Santa Claus 301
beans and hot chestnuts. To this we were led and
hospitably pressed to fall too. I sat down and drank
beer and ate chestnuts, which reminded me of home,
Immense joy was caused to the audience by the
appearance of two soldiers dressed as geishas, who
came to serve us with sak^ and beer ; but I was sorry
for the poor performers on the stage, as they were
quite neglected, all eyes being fixed on the foreign
officer, to see what he would do. I drank my cup of
sak^, and then bowed and made my counterfeit Hebe
drink a cup herself in true geisha style, whereby I
drew loud applause and laughter from all parts of the
house. In truth, the foreign officers were more the
play than the play itself.
I will not write another account of the stage per-
formance. As usual, there was a minimum of love,
wine, plot or problem ; but any amount about swords,
duels, battles and shooting. The Japanese adore the
bright eyes of danger. Courage is the quality they
worship. After all, I think I must just jot down the
headings of one of the plays acted, as it brings out
this point so strongly.
The hero was a very poor young man with a sick
wife and a child. His creditors came to worry him,
just as they worry poor young men in England, and
after a long argument they lost their patience and
tore the last blanket off the bed of the poor sick wife.
In the midst of the painful scene a postman appeared
and handed in the fatal notice which summons a
reservist to join his regiment. War had been declared
against Russia, and the poor young man must take
the field against the enemies of his country. He is
thunderstruck. It is the finishing stroke.
When, however, the creditors understand what
nviHnca>vi^^MMM^v«^^^5=c^
302 A Staff Officer's Scbap-Book
has happened, they are pleased, and begin to have
pity.
They tear up their bills and receipts, and, not content
with this indulgence, they begin in generous emula-
tion to give to their debtor all that they possess. The
first takes off his waist-belt and says, "'Here; this
cost me 7 yen 50 sen — ^take it ! '' and so they go on
until they are stripped stark naked. There is no
alternative but to go home dancing through the
crowded streets almost in a state of nature ; and, as
may be imagined, there is a good deal of fun about this,
especially as it is a travesty of something similar in the
great historical romance of the 47 Bonins.
The young man, left to himself, reviews the agony
of mind through which he has just passed and realises
that his affection for his family is so strong that it is
calculated to interfere with his whole-heaited per-
formance of his duty as a soldier. He dreads lest his
thoughts might wander to his beloved ones when his
mind should be entirely concentrated upon how he
can best serve the interests of his country. He
therefore kills his wife and his child. The audience
applaud the act with wild enthusiasm, regarding it
as sublime and almost superhuman.
A policeman comes in by chance and discovers the
death of the wife by the blood oozing from beneath
the blanket. When, however, he fully understands
what has happened and for what motive, he is so lost
in admiration that he cheerfully resigns his chance of
making a name for himself by taking the young man
prisoner, and bestows upon him instead his warm
congratulations.
Goal-Mines, Janua/ry 15«A, 1905. — To-day being
the Japanese New Tear, I went to a feast with General
Nakamuba Encounters Santa Claus 303
Kuroki. There were no speeches, but every one was
very cheery and kind. The bandsmen, dressed as
European women, came in again, and danced a Lancers
ijvith others dressed as Chinamen, officers, etc. The
costumes were very stranga One little girl had tow
hair down her back ; her face painted white ; a red
straw hat and black stockings. Another had a white
straw hat with a white feather sticking out of it. I
was touched by the kindness of the waiter, who talks a
little English. He saw several officers egging these
pseudo females on to come and pour me out some wine.
So, being afraid I might make a fool of myself, he came,
and while pretending to brush away some grains of
rice, whispered in my ear, " Do not be deceived — they
are only bandsmen dressed up as women."
A deputation of Chinamen came to wait upon Kuroki
to-day, and said that in the last fifty years so mild a
winter as the present has never been experienced.
Putting this together with the phenomenally light
rain in the summer which was such a Godsend to the
First Army, they think there is magic in it and wish
to learn the secret.
The story led on to some general conversation about
the Chinese, which interested me greatly. From all I
can gather, after a fairly close study of the question
on the spot, there is no doubt at all that the northern
Chinese peasant will make an excellent soldier. He
is hardy, obedient, brave and intelligent. Ample
material is also available for the requisite number of
non-commissioned officers. But as regards the officer
class, the situation is much more obscure. I may
safely say that in the meantime, there is very little
prospect that China will be able to create a corps of
officers. What I have seen myself of Chinese officers
304 A Staff Officer's Scgeiap-Book
and Chinese militaiy students gives me the strong
belief that for three or four generations to come it will
be impossible for the Middle Kingdom to produce
instructors and administrators who will be patriotic
enough to resist the temptations of power and to
devote their lives to an ideal higher than that of
money-making. They are at present so entirely lacking
in the true military feeling that they will have to be
born again before they will be fit for the position held
by military officers.
These are my opinions^ but the subject is mysterious
and it is of course conceivable that a general change
might take place suddenly in the attitude of the nation
towards the profession of arms which would awaken
enthusiasm dormant for 1000 years, and flower forth
into a regenerated corps of officers.
The Japanese are naturally immensely interested
in the problem. They would like to put China on
her feet, but not on horseback. They listen with
amused contempt to the common Western notion
that there is some sort of an affinity between a China-
man and a Japanese. Except the shadowy spiritual
link furnished by Confucius, and the more material
one of identical ideographs, they consider a Chinaman
resembles a Western much more nearly than any in-
habitant of Dai Nippon. The Chinaman is as pure a
type of individualist as the American of to-day or the
Englishman of yesterday. The Japanese is nothing if
not an altruist.
CoAL-MiNES, Jcmuanry 15t/t, 1905. — I rode off in the
morning to pay my respects to General Umezawa, an
old type Japanese warrior, keen and determined look-
ing, not altogether unlike General Kodama. He told
me many interesting things about the Yalu fight and
n I ■ iM^^^— ^i— W— ^pwg<iWP—i— W— KPBWl^JtP^^'it"..' ■" «i I U^
Nakamuba Encountebs Santa Claus 305
about Liaoyang. He also gave me some news about
little Booeki, He says she is well known to have
belonged to the Bussian general, Count Keller, as
staff o£Bicers had seen her following him through their
telescopes from the top of the Motienling. After the
battle of the 31st of July she was found lying in a
basket in the house he had been occupying. The
Japanese soldiers admired the bravery of Count
Keller, and although his body had been sent away to
St. Petersburg they intended to hold a funeral cere-
mony in his honour. Part of the programme was
the sacrifice and burial of Ilooski, in the ancient
Japanese style. However, when they came to lead
her out to the execution it was found that she had
gnawed her string and escaped. I am not certain
whether the general was quite serious in telling me
this strange story. Certainly it was told seriously,
and certainly when I found Booski on the 30th of
August she had a string round her neck.
II
CHAPTER XXXVI
THE DEVIL'S PLOUGHING
LiAOYANG, January 16tA, 1905.— We have halted
here on our way to Port Arthur,* where the Head-
quarters are sending us on an excursion in a special
train. I have much to he thankful for, but this great
consideration and indulgence leaves me without words
to express my gratitude.
Near Port Arthur, Janwory 18^^, 1905. — ^Arrived
at General Nodzu's headquarters, after a cold and
weary journey in the train. All the foreign officers
with the Second Army are also with us, so we make up
an imposing party. The others are acconunodated in
a long barrack-room made of wood and matting: I
am in a tiny room by myself. I can only just turn
round in it, but it is as good from my point of view as
a palace, for it gives me seclusion and respite to think
and write.
Near Port Arthur, January l^ih, 1905. — ^I have
been introduced to General Nogi. He is tall, slender
and grey, and appears bright, sensible and determined.
He shook us warmly by the hand all round and seemed
genuinely, and not only politely, glad to see us. He
said that most of his staff were busy entraining
* My experiences at Port Arthur would fill a large Tolume if I
treated them at all fully. I will therefore only include a few minor
points, more with the object of giving a general idea of my adven-
tures than of attempting to deal seriously with the subject of th^
siege. — I. H.
The Dbyil'b Ploughing 307
troops for Liaoyang, but that he could spare us
an officer to take us over his battle-fields. Beyond
this nothing passed but compliments, and we soon
mounted our steeds. On the way to the forts
I made friends with a gay and festive spark, a
bright, quick, talkative young officer, who had been
summoned from his studies in Paris on the outbreak
of the war. It is, indeed, remarkable how the
Japanese are able to assimilate the characteristics of
the people with whom they consort. But I fear that
the joyous efiervescence supplied by a Parisian educa-
tion will soon lose its piquancy and point under the
pressure from above and below to which an officer
must as a rule be subjected.
I picked up a few odd scraps of opinion and senti-
ment during my ride. The Japanese think the
Russian sailors better men» stronger, more intelligent
and more highly trained than their soldiers. The
Japanese admit that the Russians fought bravely
enough at Port Arthur, and yet there is not a man in
the Third Army who does not think it wrong of the
garrison to have surrendered. To illustrate the
Japanese standpoint I am told that if his Imperial
Majesty the Emperor gives a colour to a regiment it
is the duty of every single man to die before it is
taken. No lower standard of military conduct can
find acceptance or even condonation. If a private
soldier should see an officer waver in his loyalty so far
as to dream of surrender, he would be justified, a
hundred times over, in the opinion of his countrymen,
if he were to head a mutiny to supersede such a traitor.
It is rather interesting to hear such ideas expressed
just at the moment when cables tell us that all Europe
is acclaiming the heroism of the Port Arthur garrison.
308 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
I stand outside the question altogether, and only say
that opinions so conflicting point to the existence oF a
formidable gulf between the military ethics of East
and West.
203 Metre Hill, Jomuary 20ih, 1905.— We left
our camp at 1 a.m. Like the young lady of Riga, "we
were all mounted on tigers. Seriously, I never saw
such devils. We had to practise the widest exten-
sions lest we killed one another. In spite of all
precautions the horse of one foreign o£B.cer reared up,
and seizing the attache of a friendly Power between
its fore feet flung him from the saddle. In the con-
fusion which ensued the wild beast bestridden by
Vincent kicked the Marquis Saigo on the leg. How-
ever, at last we began to move, and then, by degrees,
the menagerie became less violent.
I have been noting down these silly trifles to put
ofi*, as far as possible, the moment when I must tiun
to the ghastly charnel-house whither my steps have
now led me. So far I have avoided such things
because I hate them, and also because I feel that
many writers have combined to give the world a false
conception of war by pUing up its horrors beyond all
reasonable measure. But, sitting here, I should go to
the other extreme and become a cowardly suppressor
of the truth did I try and escape altogether from some
analysis of the mountain of death upon which I find
myself. {See Sketches XXXVI. and XXXVII.)
At a glance it springs to the eyes that this is no
ordinary hill. It has been fairly battered out of its
natural shape by inhuman agencies, and on its blasted
and shot-seared surface there is not so much as one
dried blade of grass ; nothing to break the harshness
of the devil's ploughing to which it has been subjected
The Devil's Ploughing 309
but here and there the faded colour of a woman's
goiTvn or petticoat which has been used to make sand-
bags, or the leprous yellow splotches left by the
bursting of the high explosive shells.
The manner of the devil's ploughing is thus :
first the hill has been sliced into numberless deep
gashes, and then these trenches and their dividing
^w^alls have been smashed and poimded and crushed
into a shapeless jumble of stones; rock splinters
and fragments of shells cemented liberally with
human flesh and blood. A man's head sticking up
out of the earth, or a leg or an arm or a piece of
a man's body lying across my path are sights which
custom has enabled me to face without blanching.
But here the corpses do not so much appear to be
escaping from the groimd as to be the ground itself.
Everywhere there are bodies, or portions of bodies,
flattened out and stamped into the surface of the
earth as if they formed part of it, and several times in
the ascent I was on the point of placing my foot upon
what seemed but to be dust when I recognised by the
indistinct outline that it was a human form stretched
and twisted and rent to gigantic size by the force of
some frightful explosion.
The very walls still standing in places are built of
alternate layers of frozen corpses and sandbags. I
have written enough ; perhaps too much. Sieges are
horrible things. A good fight in the open — that is
another matter.
Riding back, my French-speaking friend told me
that his father had been killed as a lieutenant-colonel
in the wars of the Rebellion. He hopes there will be
a decisive victory soon.
It is easy to understand that despite the dogged
310 A Stapf Officeb's Scrap-Book
Japanese courage there must be much anxiety amongst
all thinking officers as to the effects of the financial
strain of this war. The Japanese have enough, and
more than enough territory. If the exhausting conflict
lasts too long they will find themselves left, I will not
say penniless, but certainly with no superfluous cash in
their pockets. How then can they fulfil their destiny
and develop Korea, let alone Manchuria ? Even as it is,
foreign capitalists will, in the first instance, reap the
chief benefits of their victories, but if they go on fighting
much longer, even the small margin left to them will
disappear and they will not be able to draw out of their
new possessions anythmg to compensate them for their
efforta Evidently therefore it must be the Japanese aim
to force the Russians into peace as quickly as possible.
Headquabtsbs, Third Abmy, Janua/ry 21sty 1905^
— Spent the day in going over the captured forts and
the trenches, parallels and approaches of the besiegers.
The impression left upon my mind is that fortifications
are as valuable as ever for vital points. The mistake
the Russians made was in beginning with the con-
struction of the inner line of forts instead of first
completing the outer ring, including such places as
203 Metre Hill. The Japanese allow that they could
never have taken that place had it been crowned by a
permanent work. It was very evident fix>m 203 Metre
Hill to-day that a harbour or dockyard becomes a mere
deathtrap to ships, provided :
(1) That the enemy's guns can get withio range
for indirect firing.
(2) That the enemy can seize any one point from
which a single man can observe and correct their
fire.
Against an extended line of guns hidden away behind
J
The Devil's Ploughing 311
some mountain six or seven miles distant, the armament
of a fortress is absolutely useless. The concentrated
guns of the fort have not a hundred to one chance of
disabling the concealed and dispersed guns of the
attack ; whereas, given an observation post, the guns
of the attack can hit a ship or house every time they
fire, and even without an observation they can, by the
aid of a map, direct their shells towards the vitals of
the harbour or town. In fact, the value of Gibraltar
depends upon the neutrality of Spain.
Headquarters, Third Army, January 22nd,
1905, 11 P.M. — I will turn the day topsy tiwyy and
begin at the end. I have just come from a grand
dinner given by Nogi to all foreign officers. I sat on
his right hand, and turned the conversation on to the
subject of my last entry yesterday. His Excellency
said, ** The experiences gained during the siege show
that a town or harbour cannot be protected by a ring
of works concentrated in its immediate vicinity. It
can only be saved from destruction by outlying forts
twelve kilometres (eight miles) distant from the vitals
they are meant to cover. To have forts eight kilo-
metres (five miles) out is, nowadays, no use. As for a
fortified harbour or town without any outlying works
whatsoever, I would merely call that an expensive
shell trap."
One great fault committed by the Russians consisted
in not having a sufficiency of howitzers. Another was
in their habit of placing their cannon mounted con-
spicuously on the tops of the hills, where howitzers, by
indirect fire, could destroy them without exposing
themselves. He made me tell him a great deal about
Ladysmith, and he seemed much struck when I said
that the only guns we had which ever caused a Boer
312 A Staff Officer's ScBuAP-Book
Long Tom to run away were two old, black powder 6.3
howitzers dating from the Afghan War.
In this army, as in all others, it was specially intei'eet-
ing tostudy the differing characteristics of the Division&
We see the same strong distinction between our own
troops, mainly as a rule in consequence of the idiosyn-
crasies of their commanders. In General Nogi's army
it was quite extraordinary how the individualities of
his Divisions came out in the nature of their sap. One
Division was exceedingly rapid in its work, but left a
good deal to chance. Its works were, in fact, horribly
unsafa When any visitor went into the trenches he was
always being told to hurry up and pass along quickly,
for bullets came hurtling through the thin, scrimped
walls, and he found himself committed to an adventure
almost as dangerous as an advance across the open-
On the other hand, this Division always got through
its job in a marvellous short space of time.
Another of his Divisions was fairly safe, but not so
rapid.
Tet another Division constructed its trenches so
that any one entering them was as safe as he would
have been in a Tokio tea-house, but Port Arthur
would not have fallen for another year had every
one adopted that rate of progress. The prevention
of any riot or disturbance in Port Arthur after
the capitulation had been a cause of great anxiety.
Much trouble had been taken to relieve the Russian
guards by Japanese sentries in the due course of relief.
This was so managed that before the public had time
to grasp what was happening, a Japanese sentry was
standing on duty at each of the well-thought-out
tactical points fixed in the Russian scheme for the
maintenance of internal order.
^
Thb Devil's Ploughing 313
Finally, Nogi told me that his worst night during
the whole siege was that of January 2nd, when he
could not sleep a wink owing to cessation of the firing.
I have put the foregoing down quickly, so that I
may forget as little as possible. Now I must hark back
to the morning.
We started on the tigerish steeds at 9 a.m. and rode
for Port Arthur. On the way my new friend told me
of a former ride with a Russian herald or parliamentaire
on January 3rd, when he went in to see General
Stoessel. He was the first Japanese who had entered
the town since the declaration of war. Naturally he
was not quite happy, and feared he might be greeted
with some uncomfortable demonstrations. What was
his surprise, however, when the Cossacks and groups
of soldiers took off their caps, waved them, and called
out, " Bravo 1 " Once he got among the streets he
had some difficulty in finding Stoessel's house. At last
he was shown the way, and when he asked the sentry
if he was at home he said ** Da ! " so he rang fthe bell.
The door was opened by an old man whom he took to
be Stoessel's adjutant, instead of which he turned out
to be the general himself, who ushered him into a room
where Madame Stoessel was sitting. There he delivered
his message from his Imperial Majesty the Emperor,
saying that, as Stoessel had fought bravely, he might
still keep his sword. Stoessel replied in suitable terms,
and asked if he micrht come and call on General Nofid.
So next day my 4nd came in again, bringing pre-
sents of chickens and champagne, and arranged an
interview for January 5th. On that date the generals
met and shook hands.
General Nogi said, " We have been fighting for our
countries, and have had to do so as courageously as
314 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
possible. But now it is peace here, and there is no
reason we should not meet for the time being as good
friends and soldier comrades." Greneral Stoessel made
answer, *' Tes ; with the cessation of hostilities feel-
ings of anger die, and the mind is well prepared to
cherish more friendly feelings."
The generals then discussed the incidents of the
fighting, when each was complimentary to the soldiers
of the other.
General Stoessel observed that the 11 -inch howitzers
were the most unpleasant feature of the siege.
Messengers of such weight, so imperiously demand*
ing possession, had never before been sent into a
fortress.
After a little more talk about the wounded, General
Stoessel said, *^ I have two horses, an Australian and
an Arab. They are both beauties, and I want you to
accept them as a free, willing gift."
General Nogi replied, " No ; I am extremely sorry,
but under the orders of the Eknperor everjrthing in
the fortress has to be handed in without exception or
distinction to the Commissioners for captured articles ;
I promise, however, that I will endeavour to get these
horses back from the Commissioners, and if I can
succeed I will keep them always in remembrance of a
brave adversary."
General Stoessel expressed his deep regret at the
sad bereavement the Japanese commander had suffered
by losing his two sons during the siege operations.
General Nogi thanked him for his sympathy, but
declared that it was cause for self-congratulation and
not for sorrow to a Japanese soldier if fate decreed
that his family should cease to exist in such a cause
and in such a manner. The life of a soldier^— his
The Devil's Ploughing 315
family — all belonged to his country, and if they all
went why then they were well gone.
Finally the Russian commander got on his Arab
and made him trot up and down to show off its
beautiful paces.
Breakfast was then served, after which Stoessel
took his leave.
A mile or two before entering the town of Port
Arthur we met some carts conveying ladies. I
took them to be Russian refugees.. My pleasure at
seeing the first white women who have gladdened our
sight since the far-off days of Fenghuangcheng was
tempered by the melancholy thought of their little
homes broken up and their husbands or children lost
during the terrors of siege. I felt sorry for them,
and I suppose I looked it, too, for I was suddenly
electrified by one of them singing out in good honest
American accents, " Waal, and how are you fellows,
any way ? " Evidently I had made a mistake.
Going on a little further we met a number of
genuine Russian refugees with all their worldly
possessions, including their women and children, in
Chinese carts. The men all saluted the French
attach^, and some of them also saluted the Biitish.
Shortly after meeting these pilgrims we rode right
into the town and tied up our horses on the wharf.
My impression in passing along the deserted boule-
vard was melancholy, all the shops being closed %nd
about one house in thirty having been wrecked by
shells. On the wharf I met a couple of Sikhs, who
were considerably surprised to be accosted in Hindus-
tani. They told me the place had been given up
quietly, and that the Japanese hand o bast ^ was good.
Iminifltration.
316 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
If, they said, the Japanese had not been adroit in
changing sentries with the Russians so neatly and so
quickly there would certainly have been pillage. It
was their business to know such things, as they \^ere
watchmen in the employ of a Grerman firm. The
natural good manners of these men had been spoilt.
They spoke with a disagreeable mixture of cringing
and effrontery. I thought them degenerate fellows,
very much changed for the worse since their departure
from the Punjauh.
If the town seemed melancholy it was gay compared
to the harbour. For in the streets were at least some
lingering signs of life. The shops might be closed, but
there were Bussian Bed Cross men riding about with
Cossack orderlies and Japanese officers driving about
in Russian doikas. But in the harbour there was
nothing but the grey water and the scuttled warships ;
piteous dead things lying on their beam ends or sunken
on even keel until the little waves were able to chase
one another over the decks. No other inanimate thing
gives such an impression of life as a great ship when
all is well with her. Hardly anything in this world
looks so forlorn, lonesome and desolate as the same
ship stranded, ruined and wrecked.
On the wharf was a stack of Cardiff coal. I stood on
it a moment just to give myself the nearest sensation
possible to ** the sweet green fields of Wales." Then
we climbed up Golden Hill, where few but Bussians
had ever climbed before and where few but Japanese
will ever climb in future. For this very reason I had
better not write about it. The harbour entrance
struck me as being extraordinarily narrow. The
channel was such that I doubt if, under peace con-
ditions, two ships could safely have passed one another.
I
I
a
a
i
I
The Dbvil's Ploughing 317
All the more admirable then was the pluck of the
sailors who brought their steamers up and sank them
right under the very muzzle of the Bussian right flank
ten-inch gun.
After leaving Golden HiU fort we went to the
principal hospital and called on General Balaschieff,
Director of the Bed Gi'oss. He was a picturesque old
gentleman, who spoke French most fluently and
volubly. He reminded me exactly of the father of
Natascha, I forget his name, in War and Peace. The
heat in this hospital was awful ; 70'' ! I suppose the
Russians like it so, but the nurses, as well as the
patients, looked pathetically ill and pale, especially in
contrast with our bronzed and stalwart crowd.
On return to camp at 4.30 p.m. I got an invitation
to come and say good-bye to General Nogi, as, although
he is going to sit next me at dinner, he thinks I might
wish to have some more private conversation before I
leave.
The more I see of the Commander of the Third Army
the more he impresses me. He is, I feel sure, a man of
great nobility of character, endowed with a philosophic
heroism which penetrates through the mild dignity of
his manners and appearance. He seems utterly simple
and unspoiled by success. Although the date of his
birth places him amongst the warriors of the old school,
yet he has never spared time or labour in his efforts to
keep himself abreast of the times. He has read a very
large proportion of modem standard military works.
If I were a Japanese, I would venerate Nogi. Happy
is the army which possesses such a general, and fortu-
nate the nation. Indeed, I would go i^rther and say
well constituted must be the army and ably governed
the nation which, possessing such a man, puts him
318 A Staff Qffigsb's Sgrap-Book
exactly in the right place. What is the Power and
where does it reside hy which, apparently without
favour or affection, the very best use is made of
available Japanese material ? Who are on the Selection
Board which fits in each Japanese official just exactly
where, without being taxed beyond his powers, he can
develop his ftdlest force ?
I do not know, but I feel that we British take
these matters of appointments (I am not speaking
specially of the Army) far too lightly, because we have
a sort of feeling lying at the bottom of our minds that,
after all, one Englishman is about as good as another.
This is a frightful feJlacy. A man may be selected
for an important post in January; in February he
may have an attack of illness ; and in March,
although no one, not even himself, is aware of the
fact, he may not be the man he was. Thus, even in
an individual, there is scope for a great variation of
capacity. Napoleon in good health spells victoiy;
Napoleon with a cold in his head is nothing more than
a conmionplace commander. But such differences in
an individual, important as they may be, are nothing
compared to the differences between two different in-
dividuals. It is a marvellous thing that out of all the
millions of men in this world, it is quite impossible to
pick out two of whom it would be safe to say that they
would act in precisely the same way under the strain
of a similar crisis. Every inhabitant of Great Britain
has, somewhere, his precise sphere of action lying ready
for him. We consider it almost a miracle when the
two are brought together. The biographies of most
great men show that they only come into their
kingdom, so to say, by the skin of their teeth, and
after persistent attempts had been noade to fotce them
^^-1
HARBOVII CNTflANCI
COLOCN NILL
REMAINS
OPTH€ I
iSIAN FLCST
F Port Arthur Hari
Thb Devil's Ploughing 319
into some thoroughly uncoDgenial career. But the
eye of the Japanese Government seems to serve it
marvellously well in the selection of its instruments.
During my hrief interview with the Commander of
the Third Army, I asked if he would come and see me
in England if I got the command of an army corps.
He said that travel was for young men who wanted to
learn, for the purpose of placing their experiences at
the disposal of their native land He himself was now
too old to pick up new notions which demand fresh
and flexible minda If, therefore, it was fated that he
should get through this war alive he meant to settle
down quietly to spend his declining years in his own
country.
CHAPTER XXXVn
NANSHAN AND TELISSU
KiNCHOU, JanuaoTf 2Uh, 1905, 11 p.m. — A fierce
blizzard from the north has been blowing for the past
twenty-four hours. Last night, after saying good-bye
to the Third Army headquarters, I had just time to get
into bed with all my clothes on when it began in deadly
earnest, whistling through my matting- walled house as
if it had been a sieve. I wore a nightcap for the first
time in my life, but even that did not keep my feet
warm, and I could not sleep.
I rose at 6 A.M., as under the orders issued we w^*e
to start at 9, but as a matter of fact we did not get off
until 1 P.M. The wing of chicken I got for breakfSBist
was fix)zen as hard as a brick-bat. I chipped off splinters
with my clasp-knife and held them in my mouth until
they melted.
After travelling a few miles up the line we halted
for an hour, taking in Russian prisoners for Dalny.
They were fine-looking men, many of them over six feet.
Our third-class carriage tempered to some extent the
fury of the blizzard, but in the open trucks it must
have been haxd to draw breath. One unfortunate
man crawled in when Vincent opened the door and
seemed on the point of death. He spoke '' A &ts*o7
Deutschy We gave him brandy, which seemed to
revive him somewhat.
Nanshan and Telissu 321
Eventually we arrived at our destination, Kinchou
station, at 6.30 p.m. Here we met with a singular
adventure which will amuse the Japanese Army very
much when it comes to their ears. Hardly had I
alighted from the train when fizz I pop ! I bang ! ! !
about 500 Roman candles were let oflFup wind, fiercely
discharging their fiery contents upon the ice-laden
wings of the blizzard. I stood the unexpected assault
bravely, until catherine-wheels and fountains of fire
began to sweep the platform like shrapnel, and then,
with two or three half-exploded squibs sticking to my
coat I fled into a small waiting-room, not, however,
before I had observed an amazing crowd of Chinese
notables standing closely to windward of the fire-
works.
As soon as the fury of the salute had abated I
wanted to go out and thank the kind Chinamen for
the warm reception they had given us, but the Japanese
officers in charge dissuaded me. However, after about
five minutes' delay, they brought the chief mandarins
into the waiting-room and presented them to me there.
It was so dark that I could hardly see, and I
suggested we should either have a lamp or that I
should speak to the Chinese on the platform where
there was still a little light. But nothing was done ;
it was not my business to make a fuss, and so the
introductions and compliments took place practically
in the dark.
When all the Chinese had departed, then, and not
till then, I was permitted to start for the house which
had been told off for me, rubbing my nose in real
agony tx) try and save it from being bitten off by the
atrocious wind. Only on arrival here did a friendly
subordinate let the humour of the proceedings over-
come his Japanese reticence. He began by asking
II X
A Stavf Qfpigse's Sgbap-Book
m if we knew what was inacribed on the banners
brought down to the station by the Chinese. Naturally
we did not know, and he then toUL ns with a twinkle
in his eye that they bore the strange device of '* All
hail, mighty conqueror, on thy great victory ! " Having
said so much he could not stop, and bit by bit we got
hold of the whole story.
We had been due here at 2 p.il, and General Nogi,
who was to have started with his Headquarters Staff
for Liaoyang at 1 p.il, was due at 6 o'clock in the
evening. Our train was five hours late of starting,
which put back the departure of the Commander of
the Third Army a proportionate time, and he will not
now pass through Eanchou until midnight. But no
one had warned the local Chinese mandarins of the
change of programme, and they had all come down to
give Nogi a grand reception. Before any one could
stop them they had opened fire with their Roman
candles, and the situation was decidedly awkward fi>r
the responsible officers and officials.
But the clever Japanese are equal to any emer-
gency, and when they saw me dart across into the
dark waiting-room the brilliant idea struck them of
making the Chinese quite happy by letting them
imagine they had seen Nogi and of making me even
happier in the belief that I had been given a royal
salute. So they made me unconsciously personate
Nogi in the dark room, and killed their birds with the
one cleverly flung stone !
This room is so deadly cold it might be an apartment
excavated out of the heart of a glacier.
I hear some one hard by grumbling, " Wir sind hter
eingegrahen ; es ist schtveirUich kalt?^
Again I shall get between the blankets with all my
clothes on, plus a nightcap.
Nanshan and Teussu 323
I am writing in pencil, because my ink is frozen
quite solid
KiNCHOU, JanuoAry 25th, 1905. — The wind is still
in the north, but not nearly so piercing or so strong ;
thank Heaven I
In the afternoon we were shown over the battlefield
of Nanshan by an officer of Kobi who had been badly
wounded during the engagement. The Nanshan
position consists of a group of bare hiUs about 300
feet high, blocking the narrowest point of the Liaotung
isthmus, which is here pinched in to a width of some
three miles from eastern to western sea. (^ee Sketches
XXXVIII. and XXXIX.)
The battlefield is as restricted as that of Waterloo,
and lies before a spectator on the commanding Russian
position in all its minutest detail. Some men are glad
of an opportimity of dissociating themselves from
public opinion — ^personally I much prefer to sail with
the tide. But occasionally there is no help for it ;
it becomes absolutely necessary to combat a dangerous
delusion.
Nanshan has been called a strong position — the
strongest in the world, I think, certain writers have
allowed themselves to declare.
In the time of Csssar, or even Wellington, this
might have been so, provided always the defender
had command of the sea.
But no Roman general I am sure in the first Punic
War, when the Carthaginians were superior on sea,
would have elected to fight a battle with both his
wings resting on that fickle element, thus giving his
enemies a double chance of asserting their special
advantage. I say then that Nanshan should never
under any conditions have been considered a strong
position unless the defenders hOid command of the sea
324 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
on both sides, when, with modem ordnance such as
it is, no land defence whatsoever would have been
required.
Bat this is not alL Even if the element of sea
power be eliminated from the problem, I do not think
the writers who have enlai^ed upon the strength and
value of such a position as Nanshan have quite grasped
the evolution in tactics caused by the long-range rifle
and gun.
The Nanshan hills are, as already stated, at the
narrowest waist of the isthmus. Immediately to the
north and to the south of the position taken up by the
Russians the sea runs back, permitting the land to
bulge out in strong curves to the east and to the west
{see Sketch XXXIX,), Thus an enemy approaching
the position from the north can get within 1000
yards of it with a front twice as long as that of the
defenders. In the days of Waterloo this would not
so much have mattered, except that the artilleiy of
the attack could have brought a converging fire on the
hilL But, before the infantry could have made use of
their musketry, they must have entered the narrow
neck and restricted their front to almost the same
extent as that of the defenders. In the year of grace
1904, however, the infantry fire fight becomes hot at
1000 yards, and at this distance, owing to the con-
figuration of land and sea, the Japanese were able to
bring a great superiority of rifle-fire, half of it con-
verging, on the hills in the narrow isthmus occupied
by the Russians.
In my opinion then the defenders misinterpreted
the exceptional geographical advantages ofiered by
the Nanshan Isthmus. Instead of placing themselves
so that they must be exposed to a converging fire,
they should have used the ground to make certain of
II-
5 i^
Nanshan and Telibsu 825
being able to bring a converging fire on the Japanese.
The country to the south of the isthmus lends itself
admirably to such a scheme. The Russian right wing
might have covered Dalny and the d&)(mch6 of Nanshan
80 as to catch the Japanese with converging fire as
they emerged, without exposing themselves to naval
attack on the western, or dangerous side of the sea.
Their left wing thrown back in echelon on the higher
hills in rear would have prevented any attempt of the
enemy to turn their left by hugging the western coast
line.
In short, Nanshan was an admirable position for the
erection of a permanent work which would have been
as resistant to fire on the flanks and in rear as to any
premature assault in fix>nt. A few thousand pounds
spent on such a fort would have enabled two or three
battalions of infitntry and a company or two of garrison
gunners to hold the Japanese Army at bay for some
days at least, perhaps indeed for weeks. But Nanshan
was not a place for a battle of defence, where trenches
and gun emplacements of a simple field type could all
be easily enfiladed or even taken in reverse by men-of-
war from the sea on either side. A mile or two to the
south Nature had plainly designated the true position
for such a battle of defence ; so at least it seems to me,
though the Russians were evidently not of my way of
thinking.
I shall not enter into a description of the engage-
ment, except to say that I was surprised to find
that the Russians had placed their 15-centimetre
howitzers on the top of the hills, although only 300
yards further south there was a deep ravine with steep
sides, whence they could have fired with equal effect,
and also with perfect safety. Howitzers are meant
for indirect fire, and to expose these high angle pieces
326 A Staff Officer*b Scbap-Book
to the enemy's cannon was a purposeless surrender of
one of their chief merits. As well might a chess player
handicap himself by refusing to jump his knight oyer
the other pieces, as an artillery commander decide
that instead of throwing his shell over a hill from safe
concealment behind it, he would take his howitzers
into full view of all the enemy's artillery both on sea
and land. A howitzer is naturally a modest piece
and never would the quality have shown to more
advantage than at Nanshan where the Japanese could
bring 198 field-guns, as well as the armament of
four gunboats, to bear upon the fifby guns of the
Russians.
I noticed an important advance on the Yalu defences.
The first line of trenches, which followed the curve of
the hills about twenty-five feet above their base, was
completed with sandbag loopholes. Also there were
barbed wire obstacles, which are specially effective
against swift-running Japanese. It was owing to the
loopholes and the barbed wire that 10,000 Bussians
resisted the Third Army of 42,000 and the 1st Artillery
Brigade until sunset, although their artillery had bees
completely silenced (owing to the mistake in pladng
the howitzers) by 9 A.M.
I must now act up to my principles and tear myself
away from too serious a consideration of a fascinating
example of naval and military combination on the
battlefield. Although Nanshan must have had a bad
moral effect on the troops who had to fall back, yet it
is probable that, in the long run, the victory was
dearly bought by the Japanese. They won the posi-
tion too cheaply at a cost of 4504 killed and wounded,
or only about LO per cent, of their force. They did not
quite grasp the inherent weakness of a concentrated
force on the Nanshan hills when attacked by modern
■m^-
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'^.JT
^ANSHAN AND TeUSSU 327
armaments. Elated at having carried by assault a
position which bore some superficial resemblance to a
citadel, thej began to imagine there were no limits to
what their prowess could accomplish, and it was in
this spirit that a few weeks later they hurled masses
of valorous flesh and blood against the inflexible
masonry of permanent fortifications, there to gain the
austere glory of dying in thousands — ^not for victory,
for that was impossible, but for the honour of the Axmy
and for the renown of their country and its Emperor.
Teussu, January 26«A, 1905. — A. day of horror.
Started at 7 a.m. in an icy blizzard, but for some un-
known cause the train which was to have taken us
north at 9 A.1C left us stranded on the station, where
we remained kicking our heels to try and keep them
warm for six or seven hours. The thermometer was
just below zero all the tima
At 5 P.M. a Dubs engine from Glasgow came and
carried us to a place named Gebato, where we were
preparing some hot cofiise at 9 P.M. when suddenly
there was a terrific smash ; the windows flew into
splinters, and all became dark, except a few sparks
either from the lamps or perhaps produced in my eyes
by the concussiotL I got a heavy blow in the ribs
from something and a smash on the arm, which was, I
thought for a moment, broken. This is my first rail-
way accident. Our good honest Glasgy locomotive had
been run into by a pert fussy American shunting
engine. The servants were terribly upset. They
thought a Russian cannon shot had struck the train.
One said, '* Are we dead ? " The cook exclaimed, *' I
have lost my eye 1 " Susaki bawled out, ** We must
fly I " Matsuda said, '' Sit still ; a Russian mine has
blown the locomotive to pieces, and perhaps there is
another under us ! ''
328 A Staff Officer's Sgrap-Book
However, no one was seriously injured, although
most of us have a scratch or two to show as the result
of our adventure. Naturally our journey was delayed
still further, and we did not get here (Telissu) until
2.30 A.M. I am now in a small Russian house near the
station, and its warm stove and the howl of Japanese
soup and rice which I have just gohbled up seern^ and
therefore are, the acme of luxury.
Socialists, and many good and comfortable people
who are not socialists, imagine that the world -would
be happier if every one was assured of a good dinner
every day of his or her life. No greater mistake. Three
things make this world worth living in. Food, love and
heaven.
Deprive mankind of the natural uncertainty as to
where they are to get their next meal and they lose,
at one blow, a third of their interest in life. England
is such an absurdly safe, luxurious sort of an artificial
pa^dise. «.d so l.y of it. f^fU go ftom the cr«a,
to the grave without once having been even twenty-
four hours without food or drink> that some folk may
think that my platitude is a paradox. If so let them
consider further.
Love, they must admit, is the factor which looms
most largely in a food-satisfied life. Now, just suppose
that the course of love — ^true or false— always ran
perfectly smooth, what then would happen to love as
we now understand it ? It would disappear, and with
it the second third of the interest of life.
One more tie, and one only, would then attach
hiunanity to this terrestrial globe, namely, the uncer-
tainty about heaven. Lest perchance the world was
to be the end of all things a man might linger on just
to see it through, even if he had neither sustenance nor
love to work for and live for. But let him be positively
Nanshan and Teussit 329
assured, in such a manner as to compel belief, that he
ivas lingering joylessly on the threshold of Paradise,
and then who could prevent him from hastening to it by
committing the happy despatch ?
Often when I have heard a kind-hearted person say,
with tears in their voices, of a tramp or a gipsy, *' I
believe the poor fellow is really hungry 1 " I have
thought to myself, " Poor unhappy man or woman, you
have now lived the best part of your life without ever
once having been half or three-quarters starved. Ergo^
you know nothing whatever of one of the chief pleasures
of life, the pleasure namely of satisfjring, not mere appe-
tite, but genuine hunger."
I suppose these thoughts are the result of the
railway accident. I must now try to quench such
unwholesome mental activity in gentle slimiber by the
side of this delicious Russian stove.
Tklissu, Janua/ry 27th, 1905. — Slept the sleep oi
the just till 9.30 A.M. Had some breakfast and went
out to see the battlefield. Nakamura recommended
me a splendid looking mule. Its owner said it was
just about perfect. It seemed very tractable and tame.
Quite a nice, confidential beast.
We started. When we had gone a quarter of a
mile Booski came rather close and frightened the mule.
Booski loves to firighten anything, and is very quick to
detect when she has made an impression of this sort,
especially upon a large thing like a mule. The more
the mule drew away from Booski, the closer Booski
came to the mule. I cursed Booski fi*ightfully, but
she is just like a Boer ; when the enemy yields she
presses her advantage. I was rapidly losing control
over the mule — I lost control — we flew towards the
railway embankment, an obstacle like the Punchestown
" on and off," only more so. An instinct of the hunting-
ddO A Staff Offigbb's Sgrap-Book
field made me give the mule its head and It flew right
over like a bird. But still we were pursued by the
inexorable Booski now almost beside herself with joy.
We crossed a firozen pond. Lord knows how, but I
must say for a mule that, if it takes you into a bad
place, it is dever at taking you out again. Twice
we circled round the pond and then we went full gallop
again for that accursed embankment.
This time we galloped top speed fiill in the teeth of
the blizzard, and I can't much tell what happened
The last thing I can recall (before finding myself up to
my neck in a snowdrift) is a sensation of sazin^ down
with mUd surprise, as if from a great height, on my
own empty saddle, which seemed to be poised for that
instant on the very head of the diabolical mule. So
occupied was the rest of the party in fighting the
roaring, ice-laden wind, that my adventures passed
quite unseen by every one. Thus my dignity remains
unimpaired although I have a bump on the back of
my head to give me good assurance that I have not
been dreaming.
Before describing the Russian position and giving
my own ideas about it, I feel I must, however briefly,
state the conditions leading up to the battle.
After the Fourth Army, consisting then of only the
Tenth Division, had landed at Takushan, it was rein-
forced by a brigade of Guards from our First Army,
with whose help it captured Siuyen. The Fourth
Army now formed a link between the First Army at
Fenghuangcheng and the Second Army at Elindboii,
which, until then, had been separated by a mountainous
stretch of 160 miles of country. A general advance
northwards had become strategically practicable.
Before, however, this converging movement on
Liaoyang could actually commence, many difficulties
Nanshan and Telissx; 331
of transport and supply had to be solved. Great, then,
ivas the joy of the Japanese when a cavalry action,*
fought on May 30th, some four miles south of Telissu
(see Map XL.), showed that their problem was about to
be simplified by the Russians, who were themselves
advancing southwards towards Port Arthur. Stakel-
berg from the north and Oku from the south each now
pressed along the railway, the former hoping to draw
off some Japanese from the siege, the latter determined
to bring off more than the Russians had bargained for.
Oku's force consisted of the Third and Fifth Divisions,
with an independent artillery brigade ; also of a part
of the Fourth Division, moving well to the west by the
Fudbou road ; total, including the cavalry, 30,000 rifles,
1800 sabres, and 162 guns. The Sixth Division was
also expected to effect a landing in time to take part
in the battle, but, actually, only one single battalion
arrived on the ground before the last shots had been
fired. Against this force Stakelberg had some 28,000
men and 90 guns, mostly belonging to his own corps,
the Ist Siberians, which did such splendid work in all
the succeeding battles.
About noon, on June 14th, the Third Japanese Divi-
sion, moving east of the railway, came into contact with
the two Russian advance-guards sent out respectively
from Stakelberg's right and left wings. The right
advance-guard was encountered in the valley south of
* The affair was sharply contested, and is memorable as having
furnished the only example of a cavalry charge which has taken
place in Manchuria. Two sotnias of Oossacks came suddenly upon
a Japanese squadron, and as they could not get up enough pace in
the short distance to make their lances effective, they used these
weapons as quarter-staves, striking the Japanese with them over
their heads and across their bridle-arms. The Japanese squadron
was defeated, but the general results of the engagement were
indecisive.
332 A Staff Offigbb's SeRAP-BooK
Tafangshen, and consisted of eleven squadrons, eight
guns, and a company of mounted infantry. The left
advance-guard was met close by Gabuoho, and con-
sisted of one squadron, six battalions of infantry, and
eight guns. The Third Division drove both of these
back, but the left advance-guard made a stout resist-
ance and did not retire very far. The artillery on both
sides then became heavily engaged.
Now is the time to describe the position {see
Map XL.). From Telissu we followed the railway
down south, both the line itself and the main
road beside it, running through a flat valley, very
narrow at first but gradually opening out as we pro-
ceeded. The country on either side was exceedingly
rough and mountainous. Just as much so in fact as
the Motienling district, although the altitudes of the
principal mountains were not quite so great.
When we reached a point about two miles south of
Telissu the road and railway skirted the lower slopes of
a long, rounded, grassy spur which came jutting out
westwards from the range on the east of our valley. It
ran up to a height of about 200 feet, and on it had
been the main Russian artillery position which was
also the centre of their line. We climbed the spur
and found twenty admirable gunpits quarried deeply
into the crest line with good solid infantry trenches
beneath them.
The trenches were from ten to twenty yards down
the south slope of the spur, and they and the gunpits
were certainly the best made, and most sensibly placed
I have seen. To the west, south-west and south-
south-west the field of fire was perfect.
Looking due west the railway and main road ran
just at the foot of the spur, then came half a mile of
perfectly flat open plain : then the river Fuchou in a
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London.
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Nanshak and Tblissu 333
double channel about a quarter of a mile across ; then
another half-mile to the steep hills on the western side
of the valley which were held by the Russian right
wing. South-west and south-south-west the plain was
also perfectly flat, affording no artillery position for
the Japanese, unless they chose to advance by night,
and dig themselves in before morning. A degree or
two to the east of south was a big mountain, 600 feet
high and two miles long at the base, from east to west.
It was, I reckoned, 2500 yards distant from the gun-
pits, and while it almost touched the railway with its
western flank, its eastern flank became flattened out,
turned northwards and was joined on to the Russian
defensive position by a long low neck. The Russians
had made no attempt to hold this mountain as an out-
work, and the Japanese had not occupied it either. I
imagine (for I had time to go over it) that it was too
steep to be practicable for artillery.
Looking east, the field of fire was restricted to a
distance of about half a mile by the high main ridge
running north and south from which Gun-pit Spur,* as I
will call the Russian main artillery position, descended.
I resolved therefore to cross this main ridge so as to
examine very carefully the lie of the ground on and
about the Russian left.
After climbing up and down along the Russian
line of battle for some two miles, I reached the
highest point in the long ridge running north and
south and, from an altitude of some 500 feet, I got
more of a bird s-eye view than I had from Gun-
pit Spur, and, looking southwards, I now recognised
three well-marked valleys converged upon the position
held by the Russian left wing. The first was the
valley of the railway. The second was the valley of the
* Chinese name for locality, Lnngwangmiao.
«^P^^PVPWV*PVP"»^BB^^^1QHP
334 A Staff Officeb's Scbap-Book
Fuchou river. The third was the valley of Gabuoho.*
The Bussian guns in the main artillery position
commanded the valleys of the railway and liver veij
completely, but the valley of Gabuoho was defiladed
by intervening ridges, and special provision had there-
fore been made to deny that approach to the enemy.
This Gabuoho Valley was from 300 yards to 800 yards
wide, and four gun-pits on an eminence about 800 yards
behind the infantry trenches completely commanded it.
The infantry trenches were solidly dug and good,
although wanting in head cover or concealment. They
were in three tiers, and were very difficult to attack
with much prospect of success from the south, as not
only was the valley quite open except for the scattered
huts of Gabuoho village, but the hillsides down which
the Japanese must have come to get to the valley
were also quite bare, and afforded no cover at all.
I have now got the position of Stakelberg's centre
and left wing well into my head, and it b specially
necessary I should commit it to paper, as we have no
maps to help us. I will therefore recapitulate. From
the central artillery position near the railway to the
extreme left, Stakelberg's line of defence extends for
about three miles. Taken by itself it is extremely
strong. An advance along the railway or an endeavour
to turn the left by the Grabuoho Valley {see Sketch XLL)
would be most difficult* An attack by the valley of
the Fuchou river was also very uninviting, but, if
by chance it could succeed, certainly promised to the
victors a very special reward. The success of ad
attack up the railway or Gabuoho Valley would merely
press Stakelberg^s left wing and guns back upon
Telissu. But in case of a successful advance of the
Japanese up the Fuchou river valley, the twenty ff^
* Ohineee, Wafangwopu.
I
Nanbhan and Telissu 335
of the main artillery position could not retire up the
main valley to Telissu from whence they had come.
No, the guns must then come down south actually in
front of their own infantry trenches and circle round
to the rear by the Gabuoho Valley. The lie of the
ground then seemed to demand of the Russians that
their centre and left wing on the east of the railway
should keep a very bright look out as to what was
happening on their right, and to the west of the
railway generally.
I was labouring under special di£Sculties to-day, as
there was no officer with me who was present on
June 15th. But I had a singular guide, who proved
himself in some respects weU qualified as a battle^
field cicerone. He was the warrant officer who
had been made specially responsible for burying
the dead Russians. It had taken him a week
to get through the work, and his retentive memory
threw a ghastly but extremely vivid light on the
vicissitudes of the struggle. I must finish my
description of the Russian position before I give
some account of the fight. But I cannot do this
until to-morrow, when I am to go over the line
held by the Russian right wing to the west of the
railway.
January 28£A, 1905. — ^In the train going north. This
morning I went out again with my grim guide, like
Dante walking in Hell with his Virgil, and making my
way down the western side of the Telissu Valley,
climbed the steep hills about a mile and a half north-
west of the main Russian artillery position at which I
started yesterday. Here I found gun-pits for two
batteries on a hill 200 feet high, above the village of
SanshL The gun-pits were let into the crest like those
on the main position on the east side of the valley.
9^:s9^r^w^gmmi^mm^^mmmmmmmmmrmmmm^mmm^
336 A Staff Officbb's Sgbap-Book
There was an excellent field of fire to the south-ivest,
but only a few hundred yards range lay open to the
eastwards, where the view was closed by a higher
range of hills. One thousand yards in advance of the
guns were the Russian infantry trenches. They i^ere
deep and good, but had no head cover.
I rode now to the extreme west, or right, of
the Russian line, and climbed the highest point,
which was still crowned by an old Chinese fort.
A Japanese mountain battery had, I found, occupied
this spot during a part of the action. From here
the infantry trenches turned fi*om running east and
west, and were bent back northwards so as to refuse
the Russian right flank. I found I was now standing
on the western edge of a wedge of mountainous
country. The point of the wedge was about a mile
to the south of me, and its width from east to
west, where I stood and where the Russian trenches
stretched across it, was about one mile and a quarter.
The wedge was bounded on the east by the Telissu
Valley, and on the west by an offshoot of that valley,
which bifurcated from it one mile south of the in&ntiy
trenches, and, turning under the southern point of the
salient of mountains, ran back in a north-westerly
direction. Beneath this southern point lay the
village of Ta&ngshen, which was held at the com-
mencement of the battle by one battalion of infantry,
one company of mounted infantry, and eight guns.
But seeing that the village was fully a mile to the
south of the infiuitry trenches, the main body of the
Russian right wing evidently could not afford much
beyond moral and artillery support to the defenders of
the village and of the point of the salient. No doubt,
however, the artillery on the main position on the
eMt^m side of the railway could bring a pc^ejd^l,
Nanshan and Telissu 337
enfilade fire on any troops attacking Tafangshen from
the south.
Looking north-west from the extreme right of the
Bussian line, I could see, three miles off, at the foot of
a high mountain, a well-defined road passing through
a small village called Bonchio. It was over this pass
that a brigade of the Fourth Division passed, prac-
tically unopposed, to cut into the Russian line of retreat
at Telissu. But I am anticipating.
The open gap of one and a half miles between the
guns of the Russian right wing and left wing could
not be penetrated by an enemy owing to the cross
fire which could be brought to bear upon it. Very
rightly, therefore, the Russians had not detailed many
men to hold it.
I could now grasp the whole of the Russian defensive
line very well. To meet an attack from the south it
was admirable. Everywhere there was a clear field of
fire of one mile. The Russian right and centre
possessed this field of fire over a perfectly open plain,
which they completely dominated ; and although on
the extreme Russian left the hills on the east side of
the Gabuoho valley closed in until there remained only
some 400 yards of flat ground in front of the Russian
rifles, still the slopes of these hills were gentle and
open, offering no cover to an enemy descending them
to attack.
From the point of view of minor tactics there was
small fault to find with the position selected by the
Russian general. Indeed, it was very clever of him to
have succeeded in picking out so defensible a line from
the tangle of mountains which often lure the seeker
for a good battlefield on and on, from ridge to ridge^
each of which is so apt to be commanded by another.
But from the standpoint of laiger tactics so much cao
n T
888 A Staff Offiobr's Scrap-Book
hardly be said. The position was too cramped for the
number of troops and guns available. Effective oounter-
attack was difficult. The true scheme would certainly
appear to have been to hold the narrow defile by
Telissu with a comparatively weak force whilst employ-
ing the bulk of the army to strike at the Japanese left
along the Fuchou road. And, undoubtedly, Oku both
expected and feared some such attempt.
Having described the position, I am now enabled^ by
the kindness of the Japanese, to say how, on the
morning of the 14th, Stakelberg meant it to be held.
The following extracts are from an order found on the
body of a Russian staff officer. I have ah*eady given
the composition of the two advance-guards, which were
taken from that document. The left wing was to hold
the ground to the east of the railway. It was to be
commanded by Major-General Gemgross. The strength
was four squadrons, twelve battalions of infantry and
thirtynsix guns, four of them mountain gun& Six
battalions and twenty-eight guns were to be in the
first line, and six battalions and eight guns were to
be in the second line.
The centre was to hold the open valley between
Gunpit Spur and Sanshi west of the railway. It was
to be commanded by Major-General Luchkovski. The
strength was three companies of in&ntry and twenty-
four guns.
The right was to hold from the railway valley west-
wards on the high ground. It was to be commanded
by Major-General Erause. The strength was 3^ bat-
talions of infantry, eight guns, and half a battalion of
Pioneers. The advanced post was to be commanded
by Colonel Pachinski, and was to hold Tafangshen.
The strength was one battalion of infantry, eight guns,
and one company of mounted infantry. The reserve was
Nanshan and Telissu 339
to be posted at Lijutun, just south-west of Telissu, and
was to be commanded by Major-Q^neral Glasko. The
strength was eight battalions of infantry and sixteen
guns.
On the afternoon of the 14 th the reserve under
Glasko was moved to the lefb to support Gemgross in
making an attack against the Russian right on the
morning of June 15 th. During the night of the 14th
five more battaUons of infantry came up by railway,
and were held in reserve near Telissu, thus replacing
Glasko.
I now come to June 15th, when Oku, with 32,000
men and 162 guns, had resolved to attack Stakelberg's
28,000 Russians and 90 guns before further reinforce-
ments could reach them from the north. Stakelberg,
on his side, had also determined to attack the Japanese
right.
The p]an of the Japanese commander was to attack
Stakelberg's left and centre with the Third Division,
whilst with the Fifth Division and a mixed brigade
detached from the Fourth Division he attempted to
turn their right. The Cavalry Brigade of two regi-
ments and six machine guns, aided by a mountain
battery from the Fifth Division, was to make a
separate wide turning movement round the Russian
left and to endeavour to cut their line of retreat.
The dawn was ushered in by a thick mist, which
enabled the Third Division to push through the rail-
way gap to fairly close quarters before, at 5.30 A.1C.,
the vapours cleared away and the Russian artillery on
Gun-pit Spur opened upon them and drove them back
into ^e defile. Another portion of the same Division
moved up the Gkibuoho Valley, and, being unsupported
by artillery, found themselves overmatched by the
Russian fire firom their four field-pieces and three tiers
» ■■ ■ >jr
340 A Staff Offigbb's Scrap-Book
of infantry trenches. Seeing that he could hold his
enemies in check, Major-General Gemgross, -who was
commanding in this part of the field, tried frequent
counter attacks which met with some success, forcing
Oku twice to reinforce his lefb from his general reBerve.
Mj guide was able to give me exceedingly significant
details as to the course of the action in this part of the
field All along the main Russian artillery position in
the centre to the trenches on the western side of the
Gabuoho Valley, he did not find half a dozen dead
Russians. But in the village of Grabuoho itself, and in
its immediate vicinity, he had personally superintended
the burial of several hundreds. Certsdnly over three
hundred.
I closely questioned him as to whether he had
buried any Russians up the eastern or Japanese hill
side of the valley, and he said yes, that there were
scattered corpses dotted about the slope for a distance
of 200 yards up from the valley, but that beyond 200
yards there were none. Most certainly he had found
no Russian corpse on the crest line of the hills forming
the eastern boundary of the Gabuoho Valley. It seems
then that a wrong impression has been given to the
world by the accounts which have thus far appeared
in the Press concerning the action of the Russian left
From reading these accounts I had imagined that
Gerngross had marched some considerable distance,
and had attacked and half surprised the Japanese
light. Now it seems clear that although he must
have coimter-attacked with resolution, he did not ever
succeed in making much headway. His assaulting
lines apparently issued from their .trenches, crossed
the valley, a distance of 500 yards, and got from 100
to 200 yards up the opposite hill side, when they were
brought to a standstill It is curious to think that
Nanshan and Telissu 841
the most capable staff officers on either side, or even
the generals in local command, could not supply
me with information so reliable as that which has
descended upon me through the medium of this
glorified gravedigger.*
Whilst the Third Division was thus unable to make
any impression upon the Bussian centre or left, the
Fourth Division, with fifty-four guns belonging to the
independent Artillery Brigade (in addition to its own
guns), moved north-westwards and northwards. Its
orders were to hold out a hand to the mixed brigade
from the Fourth Division (which at dawn had been
still some ten miles to the west of the battlefield),
and to attack the village of Tafangshen, just south of
the point of the mountainous wedge-shaped salient
athwart which the Russian right wing was entrenched
This village was captured at 9.20 A.M., after fighting
which was not severe. There were hardly any Rus-
sian corpses buried there, which looks as if the
defenders had trusted mainly to their shrapnel to
prevent the occupation of this point.
In my description of the Russian position I have
explained, very likely with the cleverness which comes
of knowing what happened, that a Japanese success
here was just about the most &tal mischance which
could possibly have happened to the Russians.
Tafangshen, and the high ground immediately to the
north of it, was beyond a doubt the Achilles heel of a
position otherwise fairly strong. If either flank were
turned, all that the Japanese could do would be to
press the Russians back into the Telissu Valley, where
* It is said, however, that at St. Privat some of the German
burying-partieB carried their dead up the hill so that their graveB
might appear doeer to the enemy's position than those of rival
regiments*
842 A Staff Offigosb's Sgbap-Book
they could retire at the rate of four miles to every
mile that Oku's men could pursue up and down the
mountainfl. But the capture of Tafangshen denied the
Telissu Valley as an avenue of retreat to the Russians
for as far as shrapnel would range, namely, some three
miles;
As might have heen expected, directly Tafang-
shen was captured, Colonel Shiba, one of the very
beet officers in the whole of the Japanese Army, came
hurrying up with the 15 th Artillery Regiment and
brought a cross fire upon the main Russian artilleiy
position at Gun-pit Spur, thus easing the position on
the Third Division. It then became obvious that the
Russian guns would have great difficulty in moving.
They could not now possibly limber up under Shiba's
fire and come slowly down the steep spur into the open
valley. They could only retire by coming over the
southern brow of Gun-pit Spur and by passing along
the front of their own infantry to gain the Gabuoho
Valley, where they might possibly, but very im-
probably, escape by running the gaunUet of the rifle-fire
of the Third Division. Why then did not the Russian
reserves, half a mile south of Telissu, come up and
make at least one good charge against the villa^ of
Tafangshen? I cannot say. No counter-attack was
made, and the Japanese proceeded to improve their
success by capturing the southern point of the moun-
tainous wedge held by the Russian right wing.
A mountain battery now came up on to these hills
to help the 15th Artillery Regiment, and by the
combined Japanese fire the Russian guns, both in their
main position and in the right wing, were silenced at
about 11 A.M. At this time also the mixed Brigade
of the Fourth Division marching through Bonchio
Gap, got into touch with the Fifth Division and
Nanshan and Tslissu 848
threatened to envelop the Russian right and to cut in
behind them at a point in the Telissu Valley four miles
north of the battlefield. I was assured that when the
Mixed Brigade passed through the Bonchio Gap the
whole of the Russian Army was still in its trenches.
If so, it is marvellous that Stakelberg did not
experience a real disaster, instead of a mere defeat. It
appears that the Russian cavalry first came into
contact with them at the Bonchio gap, but that their
advance was not checked until they got within a mile
of the Telissu Valley. At this spot my guide had
also buried many corpses, but unfortunately I had
no time to go and make a personal inspection of the
terrain.
Soon after the Russian guns were mastered, the
reserves (which had not fired a shot) began to fall
back. I cannot, on the spur of the moment, recall
another similar example of reserves initiating a retreat.
On the north-west frontier of India, the art of retire-
ment has been reduced to an exact science. This
sounds sarcastic, but it certainly is not meant so. The
hill tribes rarely fight as long as our troops are
advancing; but the moment the reconnaissance, or
punitive expedition, or whatever it may be, begins to
make its way back to camp, it is attacked and pursued
by an enemy until then invisible.
In South Africa also, even if the head of the
column was pursuing after a victory, the tail of
it was almost invariably fighting a rearguard action.
I merely quote these experiences to give force to
my view that the normal function of a reserve
under the conditions obtaining at Telissu would
have been (l) to retake Tafangshen ; (2) if a retreat
were determined upon, to take up a position a rifle-
shot north of the Russian line of battle, so as to let
344 A SzAwr Owrmalz Scrai^Book
all didr own troops tluoogfa pfqpanfcotj to taldngiip
the diiti68 of reargaaid.
Bj mid-daj, the right wing sdll d^nding them-
•elyes, hegan definitelj, though skwfy, to retreat.
Sbrange to say, not a single Kianan corpse was Ibond
at or near these trenches. It was not until a point
nearl J half a mile north of the trendies tiiat the graTe-
digger^s work had hegan« PossiUy the Bniwians wk«
aUe to send back their dead until thdr retreat became
more hnrried. Posdbly the fighting here uras not fio
stiff as it has been rqnresented. But however this
may be, it is yet more strange that for scMne reason, at
present inexplicable, Gemgross and the left wing, wbo
were gaDantly holding their own, and more than holding
their own, were permitted to stand &st, althoagfa the
retirement of the right wing qmte uncovered tbcff
western flank. After an hoar or two the J^^paneee
cavalry b^;an to make itself felt on the eastern flank
of the left wing, and then at last Gremgross issnetl
tardy ordere for a withdrawal There was great diffi-
culty in extricating the infiintiy, and most of the gon^
had to be abandoned. My corpse-man told me he
buried many Rnssians along the line of retreat from
Gabuoho to LikiatmL
The Japanese now got their gone up on to Gon^pi^
Spur, in among the captured Russian cannon, and
began firing down the Telissu defile. The Mixed
Brigade irom the Fourth Division was only being held
back with difficulty from crowning the western heights
a mile north of Telissu. Things looked as bad as bad
could be for Stakelberg, when a blinding rainstonn
came on, and, blotting everything from view, eaded
the conflict
Looked at from the Japanese standpoint, the battle
of Telissu was a pretty piece of tactics. But the
1
Nanshan and Telissu 845
"vireakness of Stakelberg on his right wing and the
somewhat feehle resistance shown there made the game
comparatively easy. If I were to venture on a criticism
of General Oku's operations I should say he was stra-
tegically in too great a hurry, and that tactically he
attempted too much.
I need not labour the point that if he had been
able to play with Stakelberg during June 15 until
the Mixed Brigade from the Fourth Division had got
within striking distance of Telissu, hardly any of the
Russians would have escaped. Also, taking the actual
attack as it was carried out, the Japanese commander
endeavoured to turn both Stakelberg's flanks and to
carry the position all along its front, although he had
only a small superiority of in&ntry, and of half as
much again in guns.
In my humble opinion, only a superiority of two to
one can ordinarily warrant a commander in thus dis-
pensing with all those niceties of warfare which tend
to mislead the enemy and to force him to retain troops
to meet what is only a feint and not a home thrust.
Moreover, Oku's method is costly of life. I know well
that British generals stand convicted of the ultimately
far more cruel habit of hesitating to spend lives freely.
But there is probably a golden mean. Generals should
remember that each soldier's life which they carry in
their hand is a tiny bit of their country and its power.
Then they will probably be guided by Heaven to act
aright in the hour of need. The Japanese did not, as
a matter of fact, lose much at Telissu ; only 1000 or
one-tenth of their adversaries' casualties. But it is
for this very reason that I choose the present occasion
for my remark.
Begarding the problem from the Russian point of
view, Tafangshen was so vital a point that it should
34© A Staff Officbe's Scrap-Book
have been strongly fortified and strengthened by barbed
wire, abattis, and loop-holed houses* The whole line
of the in&ntry of the right wing should have been
advanced half a mile on to the next ridge to the south
to give it closer support. The Reserve, above all, should
have been kept handy to meet such a likely eventuality
as an attempt by the Japanese to carry this vital point
by a coup de main. I had not the advantage of being
present at the battle, but the cross-fire of shrapnel in
front of the village should have rendered it almost im-
pregnable to a day assault, even as it was. Stilly it
was taken. Well, then, it should have been re-taken,
or the battle was lost. What was the Reserve doing ?
I hardly know what to say about the Mixed Brigade
from the Fourth Division on the Fuchou main road,
and its apparently unexpected appearance behind the
right rear of the Russians. It is quite possible that
the hasty falling back of the Reserve and the consequent
loss of the battle may be in some way attributable to
the anxiety caused by this menace to Stakelberg's
communications. In the ordinary course of military
operations, an infantry brigade moving from a highway
to participate in an action against a force well equipped
with cavalry would have had its movement detected
as soon as it arrived within twenty miles of its
objective. For the country, though mountainous, was
not by any means wooded or close. On the contrary,
I have never seen a terrain better adapted for the
employment of cavalry either mounted as an observing
force or dismounted as a retarding force. There
were numberless peaks to give an extensive view of the
surrounding country, which was for the most part open
and un wooded. There were many ridges where mobile
riflemen could have forced regular infantry to deploy
for attack, and to come into action with their artillery.
i^mf^i'^^^'^^^^^^r'rt^^mmw^^m^mmf^^^^s^^^^i ■ U- '^^■^^^ ■■■ ■ l».
""^
Nanshan and Tblissu 847
If, of course, the cavalry were bent upon charging with
lance and sabre, then the commander must pay the
penalty.
I can only say that if Stakelberg had been informed
(as he ought to have been) by his cavalry of the
spot where the Mixed Brigade camped on the night
of the 14th- 15th, he should, considering the nature of
the country, have been able to make sure that they
did not cover the ten miles which separated them from
the battlefield before nightfall. Some officers have
a theory that owing to the Russians having no divi-
sional cavalry the sympathy between the mounted
and dismounted branches is weaker than in other
armies, but I confess this idea seems to me a little too
fanciful.
I hope I have not been over critical. The highest
authority tells us that he is the best general who
makes fewest mistakes. All military operations are
so dependent for their success upon the aid of fortune,
that it is very unjust to attribute blame unless it can
be made clear that the accepted axioms of war have,
to some extent, been infringed. Unless Kuropatkin can
show that he could not spare another Division, and
that he had sufficient grounds to justify him in sending
a comparatively weak force so far to the south, then
he is the chief offender against those recognised axioms.
Stakelberg must justify to history his apparent igno-
rance of the advance of a Japanese Division up the
Fuchou road and of the detachment of a brigade from it
to turn his right flank. He must show how his cavalry,
when they did detect the brigade, failed to delay it
with their rifles and horse guns in the succession of
confined and rugged passes over which it had to move.
He must explain why his right wing fell back indepen-
dently, leaving Gremgross and his left in the lurch.
■^■»» -*■
348 A Staff Offigeb's Scrap-Book
Very likely he can do so triumphantly. I merely state
a case from information necessarily imperfect.
As regards General Oku, all that can be said
against him is that he tried, perhaps, to do too much.
Surely, if that is a fault, it is one which is closely akin
to the very highest of our virtues.
I have written this in the train, which has been
passing through grey, craggy mountains covered with
snow wherever the surface is not too precipitous. The
red winter sun is setting behind a lofty range on to our
left, and in the valley a frozen river winds like a huge
serpent with its scales of ice all glittering in the sunset
In the distance I can see a line of Japanese transport
passing across the river. The scene is wild and melan-
choly, but yet strikes me with that sense of familiarity
and homeliness which comes of old associations. The
reason is, I think, that it reminds me of a picture of
adventures in the Arctic regions which used to excite
my imagination when I was quite a small child.
i^i^*'»"""-^"*-3»Pi^*^^W^^W«B»Wi^»"'-^i^i^'^i^P-*^"ilBP9i^«^
CHAPTER XXXVIII
FUJI VEILS HER FACE
Coal Mines, Januo/ry 29«A, 1905. — ^We reached our
old quarters here at noon, and the salute which wel-
comed our return was fired by several hundred guns,
which are muttering and rumbling continuously from
the direction of the far west, whenever the louder
but more intermittent cannonade closer to us in the
north ceases for a moment to let us hear the ominous
undertones of a distant battle. In the midst of the
hurly-burly an adjutant from headquarters handed me
a cable and asked me to come and breakfast privately
with Greneral Kuroki next morning. He said it was
too late to go out and see the fighting, as it was
virtually decided in favour of the Japanese. Ordinarily
I should have struggled against this decision, but I had
such a racking headache from the fumes of the char-
coal stoves with which we kept life in ourselves during
the night in the train that I was only too glad to have
so good an excuse for doing nothing.
The cable was to summon me post haste from war's
alarms to the safe seclusion of Salisbury Plain.
Well, so be it. I shall miss a great battle, for Nogi's
Third Army is hurrying northwards as fast as trains
and roads will take it, and the Japanese are bound to
try and win the mctoire decisive* of which they so
* I use the French phrase because it was always employed by the
Japanese, even by the Gferman-speaking officers.
350 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
constantly speak before the winter relaxes its iron grip
on all the rivers and roads. But, by the time I g^et back
to London I shall have been fifteen months stbsent,
nearly two-thirds of which time I shall have spent
actually in the field. I have seen every sort of fight
except a cavalry fight, and I have studied and described
terrain until I am in danger of knowing Mancharia as
intimately as South Africa. In short, enough is as
good as a feast ; even if it is not so, it is better to try
to believe that it is so, for those who wear the King^s
uniform must accept their destiny wherever it leads
thenL
CoAL-MiNES, Jdnuanry ZOth, 1905. — I have just
enjoyed the most agreeable of all the many agreeabk
visits I have paid to First Army Headquarters.
General Kuroki, one staff officer and myself; no one
else. The conversation was intimate and unconven-
tional. I gave all my Port Arthur impressions fireely,
and Kuroki was keenly interested, especially, I think, in
hearing that so far no report which has reached us has
succeeded in conveying an adequate idea of the stupen-
dous monument to valour raised by victors and van-
quished on 203 Metre HiU. I expounded my Nanshan
and Telissu theories much as I have entered them in
my diary ; and whether out of politeness or fix>m con-
viction my hosts seemed inclined to accept my views.
Something, I forget what, turned the conversation on
to the feverish restlessness which, at the beginning of
the twentieth century, characterises so many great
nations. I remarked that the English people, by the
dumb, stubborn conservatism which they consistently
opposed to the zealous fervour of the Scotch and to the
Celtic brilliance of the Irish, kept the ship of State on
even keel, and were the true cause of the grandeur
The British Attache with the 2nd Division isi Armv
Captain B. Vcncent. R.F.A.
f=^^^7mm^mf^^^m.sj- m .^ ■ —i .Hi^ii^— aw
^p-
Fuji Ybils hbr Face 351
ajid stability of the British Empire. In the race of
nations, it was, I thought, always safe to back the
tortoise against the hare.
Kuroki seemed inclined to appreciate this sentiment
and said, ** Certainly it is dangerous to change old
customs hurriedly. Now that we have beaten Russia,
I hope my fellow countrymen will see that there cannot
be anything so radically wrong with us after all, and
that they will be inclined to continue their advance
more slowly. My own generation has about run its
race. Nothing can change us. But, the coming genera-
tion ? I would have greater confidence in the future
if I were sure that there is a large section of our people
who, like the English, have a positive dislike to change,
even when it plausibly assumes the guise of improve-
ment.'
We spoke of certain officers and of the comparative
values of intelligence and force of character. The staff
officer incidentally remarked that, being anxious to
test the insight, imagination and good taste of his
subordinates, he had asked them all separately whether
they preferred the cherry-blossom or the plum-blossom.
Imagine the Director of Military Education posing
such conundrums! And yet, why not? I am sure
that in his name questions much less practical are
constantly being set to unfortunate candidates. I
laughed very much, however, when I heard the answer
given by the cautious Major F . He said he
admired both the plum and cherry-blossom in equal
degree. His reply hits him off to a T.
It was arranged that I should leave on February
6tb, and that a banquet should be given in my honour
by Kuroki on the 4th instant. Meanwhile, as good
an account as was available of the action of Heikoutai,
352 A Staff Officer's Scbap-Book
which ended yesterday, would he dictated to me in the
next room.
In taking my leave I said that hefore very long I
hoped the First Army would also he returning home.
The war heroes would get a tremendous reception, bat
it was wise to rememher that all the great -welcome and
attention which would he pressed upon the officers
would not last very long— six months at most. Kuroki
laughed, and assured me I need not he afraid he wouU
lose his balance. He agreed with me, only he considered
I had much overstated the probahle period of public
enthusiasm. He knew all about that bubble from his
own experiences after the China War. Soldiers in all
countries were either spoilt or neglected. There was
no sense of proportion. Anyway it was all one to hin^i
for he was getting old, and all he wished was to be leA
perfectly quiet to lead his own life and perform his own
duties.
STORY OF THE BATTLE OF THE 26th-29th
JANUARY
CONDENSED FROM THE ACCOUNT DICTATED TO MX AFTKB
BREAKFAST ON THE 30TH JANUARY
At midday on January 24th, spies reported that
on January 23rd a movement southwards bad been
noticed at Mukden. Sure enough, on the 25th the
enemy hegan to cross the Hun river opposite the
extreme left of the Manchurian Army.
We now know that the Russian forces engaged at
Heikoutai amounted to more than four J)ivisiot^t
namely the Eighth Army Corps, a part of the I^
Siberian Army Corps, and two Brigades of Sharp-
shooters. But at first, Marquis Gyama had no idea
Fuji Ysils Her Faoe 353
that he was about to meet an attack from so formidable
a forca
On January 26thy news was sent to say that the
Hussians were approaching Heikoutai on the left bank
of the Hunho, forty miles south-west of Mukden.
Two other hostile columns were said to be on the move ;
one coming through Ghonan five miles north-east of
Heikoutai, and the other a few miles to the south-west
of HeikoutaL These three columns were apparently
endeavouring to turn our left wing, and in addition
several Bussian detachments were marching due south
and making for the weakly-held gap between our
extreme left and the left centre. When our information
had BO fer enlightened us we realised, it is true, that
there was something serious in the wind, but we were
still sorely puzzled as to whether we had merely to
deal with an attempt to gain some local advantage,
or whether we were confronted with the preliminaries
to a general Russian advance. One thing seemed
certain. J£ Kuropatkin meant serious business he
could not confine his attack to one point only. There-
fore, as nothing happened elsewhere, we assumed that
the manoeuvring against our left could not, of itself,
possibly develop into a serious attack, and we hurried
on our preparations to meet an assault and Airious
battle along the whole of our line. Still, strange to
say, even twelve hours after the enemy had crossed the
Hun river we were entirely unable to detect any sign
of activity along the front of our main positions.
But theories must yield to fitcts, and certainly as
time went on it seemed beyond argument that the
Russians were committing themselves to an important
attack against our left. We were driven then to ask
ourselves what could be the object of such a move-
n z
354 A Staff Officer's Scbap-Book
ment From the enemy's point of view nothing ooul
seem less opportune Several weeks had passed m
the fiJl of Port Arthur, and Russian headquarter
must have known that at least a part of Nogi's Thin
Army had arrived at the front. I£ Mistchenko's m
had done no other good it must have enabled him b
report so much at least to his Commander-in-Chief
In our bewilderment we turned to the explanatio:
that politics must again be at the bottom of tk
militarily incomprehensible, and we began to think n
possible we should after all have to fight an emptj,
meaningless partial action on our left, instead of &
great general action.
Accordingly, the General Beserve, the Bgl^^
Division, was despatched to Heikoutai, and marciea
there with one Kobi Brigade on the night of^i^
26th January. It comes from the north-west^
Japan near the home of our renowned Second Divisiat
and we expect to hear when we get details that they
have done just as well or perhaps even better than toe*'
comrades. Certainly they made a good start by m*^
ing nineteen miles in this awful weather.* The Fut^
Division fi^om the Fourth Army was the next to loo^
oflF, leaving on the morning of the 26th and reaching ^^
* I heard f lom another source that the Eighth DivisioD, tm*
they fought bravely, showed some of the qualities uf yooDg ^^^^j
compared with the veteran troops of the First Army. '^^.^
as if they were atmancsuvres ; advanced in dose regular form*^
There was ffood-natured chaff between the old hands and tbe
comers. The Eighth Division wounded were proud of ^^. \T^
and thought themselves great heroes until they were weU ff^^
by the veterans of the Second Division. They allowed their i** ^
water to get frosen solid, whilst the wily Second Division ^^^
their rations by wrapping them up in their "sodenashee \f ^^ I
fur waistcoats) and kept them warm and eatable under u^ i
Fuji Veils Her Face 355
battlefield by the evening of the 27th. Our Second
Division followed them doselv, and last of all a second
Brigade of Eobi marched w4twards. making a grand
total of four Japanese Divisions of infantry, the
Second Brigade of cavalry and an independent
Brigade of artillery. Major-Greneral Tatsumi, com-
manded the Eighth Division, and the Fifth Division
was commanded by our old friend Kigosbi, until
recently the famous Brigadier in the Twelfth Division.
Our Second Division was, of course, under Nishijima.*
So far we have few details of the fight. We know
that as the Eighth Division was in the act of attacking
westwards, a force of Russians advanced against them
from Shujiho, which was four miles to the south of
them. Their left wing was forced to face southwards,
whilst their centre and right continued to fight with
their faces to the west.
This was an awkward situation for an untried
Division, but luckily before much harm could be done
the veteran Second Division came up and attacked the
enemy from the south, forcing them to relax their grip
on the Eighth Division.
We know also that the Russian detachments coming
down from the north against the weakly-held gap
between our extreme left and our left centre attacked
the Japanese posts at Ohintanpu f and Litajentun.
Against the Chintanpu entrenchment, which was held
by three companies and two machine guns, the enemy
made no less than five determined attack& Fortu-
nately, they launched their assaults piecemeal, one
* Major-Gfeneral Baron Nishi had been transferred to the post
of Governor of the Liaotung Peninsola.
t Ohintanpu is called Shenshanpu by the Chinese and Sandepu
by the Bossians.
»iw^r3^
356 A Staff Offioeb's Sgbap-Book
battalion at a time. Their formations were dose, anc
the machine guns worked havoc with them. It is eaii
that 1000 Russians are lying dead in front of Chin-
tanpu. Had they worked on a wide firont they must
easily have enveloped such a small isolated poet, but
they chose to run their heads straight against it. Oar
second Cavalry Brigade was posted at this time near
Shohokka, where the Hun and Taitsu rivers meet*
They had a hard time, being opposed by gieatlt
superior forces, but somehow they managed to hold
their own. On January 26, one and a half squadioos
reconnoitred Heikoutai, but could not make out the
Bussian forces dearly.
On the morning of the 27th, however, the Kussiaos
attacked in force along the line Laokyo-Somaha
Mistchenko also moved south with one cavalry regi-
ment and twelve guns from Ashigu towards Shohokbi,
and then turned due east, crossing the Hunho opposite
Kojiho, which he attacked* There Mistchenko was met
by the Eighth Division and by part of the Second
Division ; and by 6.30 fm. on the 27th the Kussian
cavalry was driven back, one party moving due nortii
towards Heikoutai. There was bayonet work ni i
Somaho this day. During the night of the 27-28tli,
the Eighth Division attacked and took the line lauokyo-
Somaho. Meanwhile the Russians had been expelled
firom Liujoko by the Fifth Division. At Gokaahi, tvr€
* A regimental officer said to me, " I can tell yoa though, it wm
not onlythe Second DiviaioQ who were clever. The Oavaky Bi^gidt
were pretty aharp^ too, I can tell you. When their eight aqoadran
were opposed hy twenty Russian squadrons, they formed shiaII
columns, which advanced^ pretending to be the guna of hattmiw
Each little column dug a little gun-pit, and so the stupid oU
Bussiaiis spent four hours firing shell at what they thought was our
splendid horse
Fuji Veils Hbb Face 857
and a half miles south-west of Heikaotai, the Second
Division had driven out the enemy after heavy fighting.
But at Heikoutai the Bussians fought like heroes.
The Eighth Division made some fine attacks upon
them on the 28th, but were each time repulsed,
mainly by the fire of the Russian machine gims.
Had our Division been less reliable than the Eighth,
which, as you know, is recruited from the north-east
of Japan, perhaps the affair might not have ended
quite so well for us.* Curiously, the Kobi Brigade,
attached to the Eighth Division, were also from the
north-east, so the Russians at Heikoutai were in bad
luck. Tatsumi gave orders for a final attack at day-
light on the 29th, but during the night Okami's
Brigade advanced from Somaho on Heikoutai, on its
own initiative, and was repulsed badly. The other
Brigade attacked as ordered at 5.30 a.m. and found
the Russians in the act of retiring, t You will under-
* A previous footnote throws a sidelight on this statement. I
think there is no doubt that the Eighth Division exposed themselves
more than was strictly necessary. The 31st Regiment was literally
cut to pieces, so I was told, only a few private soldiers remaining.
t From yet another unofficial source I hear that the cavalry
suffered much from want of instructions, and that they claim that
they might have brought off a big stroke had they any dear idea of
the general situation. Thus they were deeply disappointed. I
believe that one cause of the lack of orders was that every message
to each Brigade and Division had to pass through one telephone
station, run by a single half -frozen poor devil of a private soldier.
The cold was intense. Horsemen galloped about the held with the
foam and dripping sweat of their horses changing into a crust like
snow, and long dangling icicles. The Fifth Division had during the
last night but one fairly to choose between frost and fire. They
were seventy yards distant from the Russians in Liujoko. When
they stamped their feet to keep life in them then the Russians fired.
When they remained quiet they lost their toes. Four hundred of
them were suffering from Tesho (frost-bite) next morning.
^^T-^55S9a»B??r5S?5955S55^B^
^
858 A Staff Officer's Scbap-Book
stand that this acoouDt is necessarily confused, as rt
have not yet received our full reports.
Once more, we cannot imagine why Kuropatkin &
not time his attack before the arrival of the Thiic
Army from Port Arthur. Nor do we understand why,
when he did make it, he did not support it by at le&^
a demonstration all along our front. Had he done so,
we could not have spared so mai^y troops to detach tc
our left, and the attack would have had a much heti&
chance. It is quite true that General Kuroki had
promised Marquis Oyama to spare him the Secoiid
Division, provided the First Army stuck to its on
lines and was not launched at the Bussian lines ib
front of it. Still, had Kuropatkin been lively sni
active along our position, there might have been 80ffi«
delay in parting with the Second Division, and even
so it might have been shorn of a battalion or two.
instead of going as it did absolutely complete.
Here ends the sli^fht sketch of the action of Heii^
ta^' given me at Headquarters just as a parting giR ^^^
take home with me.
Coal Mines, Feh^uany 1st, 1905. — General Mateo-
naga came to see me this morning, en route to take iip
his new post as Chief of the Staff to General Nogi ^
the Third Army. He is a tremendous fellow, bum
like the Dutch captain of a fishing smack, bluff, ^^^J
and broad-chested, with bluff, gruff, hearty manned
to correspond.
Matsunaga said he hoped in his new capacity ^
Chief of Staff of the Third Army, he would soon have
the honour of welcoming me to Mukden. I repb^
that he had thrown off his First Army esprit de corf
very quickly if he already, before he had left our fines.
spoke of the Third Army welcoming the First Annj
men to Mukden. I said, " On the contrary, by **^
{Bo.
I Goikwlri
\ V /
I
z^**..
I HakkncbiM
Sec
Lo
^
Fuji Veils Her Face 359
good help of your old brigade, I shall have the honour
of welcoming you and his Excellency General Nogi
to Mukden ! "
And so we parted ; but, alas, I knew I would never
see Mukden.
Coal Mines, Fehrua/ry 5th, 1905. — My days
with the Japanese Army are swiftly running to a
close. A banquet was given by Kuroki in my
honour to-day, and a very large number of officers
were present.
Kuroki spoke for six minutes. He said I had been
with the army since Korean days, and that he and all
his officers had hoped I would remain with them until
the very end. Now, however, I had been offered a high
command, and their sorrow at losing me was tempered
by pleasure that I had gained the approbation of the
King of England. The First Army hoped I would
remember them and the hardships and battles of the
year that was past, and from the First Army he would
assure me with all his heart that the British general
would not lightly or soon be forgotten.
I felt' almost overcome when I rose to reply. I said
the King of England, in giving me my appointment,
had probably been influenced by knowing I had enjoyed
exceptional opportunities of studying my profession
with the First Army. For it was first not only in its
numeral. It had fought the first battle, first entered
Manchuria, first crossed the Taitsuho. Would have
been first to cross the Shaho had that been permitted,
and I would wager it would be first into Mukden.
Thus, although his Excellency and his army were so
modest that they did not know it, they were now the
most popular military force in the world. If any of
them went to London or New York they would be
surprised at the warmth of their welcome. The only
860 A Staff Officbb's Scrap-Book
place in the world where they would henceforth be
disliked was on Salisbury Plidn, for the troops ihm
would so often hear of the virtues of the First Army
that they would wish his Excellency General Earoki
had never been bom. I wound up, as &t as I can
remember, by inviting the whole 42,000 to come and
stay with me in England for as long as ever they
liked.
It was very characteristic of Japanese tact and
politeness that, when it came to the turn of the inter-
preter to translate my remarks, he should have added
to the towns of London and New York which I had
actually mentioned, the names of Paris, Berlin, Yienna)
Bome and Stockholm which I had forgotten myself to
include.
After lunch a friend on the Staff told me that
Grippenberg was being blamed in Russia for ha^
lost 10,000 men in the last battle at HeikoutaL He
said it was mistaken policy to punish a genMi
because he had failed or because he had lost a lot of
men. Such action checked initiative, which was of
all qualities the most valuable of military asseta A
general then began to think it might be more politic
to keep his army well together, and to venture lit*^
I agree. I remember that extraordinarily clever young
man, Greneral Smuts, saying much the same to me ui
Pretoria, and explaining to me that it was the croci-
fixion of ^heir defeated generals by the Carthagimanfi
which lost them the Punic Wars.
After taking leave of the Headquarters, very sadly,
I have come back here, where I am to be honoured of
another farewell banquet to-night. The cook has been
forty-eight hours preparing the dinner, so it ought to W
something tremendous.
Fuji Veils Her Face 361
In the Tbain, Fehru€mf 6«A, 1905. — ^The leave-
taking is over. It was a painful wrench to tear myself
away on the eve of a great battle from so many kind
friends ; but it is over, and now as is always the case,
the future again begins to spread itself alluringly
before me.
The dinner last night was superb, and my American
confrhre made a very sympathetic oration, to which I
replied as best I might. This morning, at 9. 30, with
a blizzard blowing and the thermometer five degrees
below zero F., I was just starting when Kuroki and
the whole of his Headquarters Staff rode in from
Hanlasanshi, three miles distant, to drink a last stirrup
cup with me before I left. Mugs were filled with
champagne, and I confess that after the big dinner
the previous night I was for shirking some of mine.
Then, to my shame, I saw that Kuroki, who is nearly
ten years my senior, had drained his to the last drop.
I seized the mug once more and so began the day
badly, although in what the Japanese are fond of
calling high spirits. Deeply touched at the kindness
shown, in my person, to my country by the gallant
and glorious First Army of Japan, I set spurs to
my horse and rode through the blizzard twelve
miles to the headquarters of Marshal the Marquis
Oyama.
I lunched with his Excellency and with Greneral
Eodama, when I drank more champagne and also some
claret, Mouton Rothschild, a special present from hie
Majesty the Emperor. Oyama and Eodama were in
excellent spirits, and were having great chaff and fun.
His Excellency said that the American newspapers, who
"must manufacture sensations if they cannot get
them any other way," had published some news in
362 A Staff Officer's Scrap-Book
leaded type about Kodama and himself. It was said
that they had quarrelled violently, with the result that
the Chief of the General Staff had come off second
best, and had been deported from the seat of war to
Japan. Both laughed heartily, and seemed hugely
amused. I was hoping to hear something more about
Heikoutai, but rich as was the feast upon the table
of the generals, not even one crumb of news fell from
their mouths into my hungry note-book.
After lunch I was greatly concerned to learn that
the old Commander-in-Chief was going to mount his
horse and ride down to the station with me, a distance
of two miles. He rarely goes out riding in such
weather, and the blizzard to-day was blowing with
special bitterness. However, he would do it, and
General Kodama and the rest of the Manchurian Army
Headquarters Staff accompanied him. His Excellency
rode a handsome, corky little horse, the best-looking
Japanese-bred charger I have seen. He told me his hoise,
that he had ridden aU through the war with China ten
years ago, was still alive and well in Japan. He had
made a promise to it that, if it carried him through the
campaign, it should enjoy free quarters for the rest of
its life. He said it was treacherous and ungentlemanly
to the last degree to promise an animal anything and
then to break the plighted word — ^far worse than to
show similar treachery to a man, for a man can speak
and claim fulfilment of the promise, an animal cannot
I told his Excellency I had a little Australian horse
called Black Monday, who had been ridden by me in
the Tirah Campaign of 1896-97, and again in the
siege of Ladysmith, and all through the South African
War. I told him also about Lord Roberts' famous
white Arab charger Volonel, and of how the Queen
had given it war medals on its breast-plate. The
^
Fuji Vbils Her Face 363
CJommander-in- Chief was much interoBted, and I
think he would like his own charger also to be
decorated.
When we reached the station we had twenty
minutes to wait in a cold of which, fortunately for
them, few in England have the smallest conception*
At last I was oflf, and I hope I may never forget the
great honour done to the British Army by the Marquis
Oyama on this occasion.
Yellow Sea, Februomf 9th, 1905. — I am in a fine
ship by Harland and Wolff, of about 6000 tons. We
have 1000 prisoners on board, under charge of a
Japanese corporal and twelve men. There are no
officers amongst the Bussians; and the men do not at all
know what to make of my uniform.
The Japanese treat them most considerately and
kindly. No assumption of superiority or swagger of any
sort. The Bussians, for their part, are obedient ; indeed,
they seem astonishingly docile and easily managed, in
comparison with Anglo-Saxons. There are 300 sailors
amongst the crowd, who strike me as being far and
away above the standard of the soldiers in physique,
bearing, alertness and intelligence. Some of the
prisoners are playing the concertina. Others are
dancing. They are excellently and warmly clad, and
have lots of flesh on their bones. Very different is
their condition from that of our poor fellows after
Ladysmith.
Yokohama Bay, Fehnuxry ISth, 1905. — ^We steamed
to our mooriDgs at dawn, just as we did eleven months
ago. Again the sun rose red in our wake through the
misty haze which bounds the far horizon; but Fujiyama,
alas ! made no answering sign from the depths of the
western sky. And as the great mountain concealed
its wonders behind the shroud of cold, unpenetrable
364 A Staff Officer's Scbap-Book
doud, BO, too, my heart remained dead and unrespon-
sive to the charm of the hour and of ihe place.
Last year my life was about to escape fix>m War
Office and other matter-of-&ct duties into a mysterious
realm of adventure and romance. To-day my course is
run ; my adventures are achieved, and instinctively I
attune my mood to a more prosaic key before exchangiflg
my khaki and my sword for the costume and cane of
a conmionplace civilisation.
Thus the grey chameleon, captive in some grimy dty,
cares no more to wear the livery of the forest through
whose foliage it once passed like a living emerald.
An officer bearing complimentary messages has
come out in a launch to take me ashore. The moment
is at hand. But ere the old life quite resumes its sway,
let me try in one rapid retrospect to realise the days
and nights that are no more :
My peony garden in Fenghuangcheng bathed in the
soft moonlight ; the Heaven-reaching Pass, reverberat-
ing through all its hollows and ridges to the continued
roll of musketry ; the wall of mist and the writing that
appeared thereon ; the Swallows'-nest Fort and bloody
Rice-cake Hill ; the heroic bayonet fight on Okasaki
Tama'sbrow ; the rapid march ; the manoeuvre ; thefieroe
attack ; the stubborn defence ; the red battle and the
crowd of pale corpses. Again I seem to see the advance
of the invincible First Army ; the dense ranks toiling
on, ever onwards, towards the shrieking shell and angi7
hiss of the rifle bullets. No drums or bugles cheer the
march of the phantom army of my thoughts, bat
ever the rumble and roar of the cannon fills each
soldier's heart with exultation as the colmnns draw
nearer and yet nearer to the valley of the shadow of
death.
INDEX
NOTX.— Wlioe the jear is not given in a date, 1904 is refeimd ttx
Abtsbinu, problem o( L 6
A%haii War, 1879, parallels, i. 371 »
iL 322-3 ^^^f 246 naU
A^haniatan, problem 01, L 6
Africa, Soath {su also South Africa),
native qaeetion in, i 6
Aiho river, affluent of the Yala,
Kashtalinsky's entrench-
ments near, i. 82. ill-con-
cealed, 87; part played by
inYalu fight, 92 et seq,,
crossing o^ by Japanese
Z2th division, 1 14-5
Aiyanmen, opposing forces at
(June 15-19)1 i. i82-93»
Russian advance on, 199
Aiyanmen-Saimachi-ChaotaoVal-
ley, described, in relation
to Chaotao engagement,
i. 286-7
Alezieff, Admiral, and the Yalu
fight, i. 82 ; flight of, from
Port Arthur, 161
America, effects of on the Japanese,
ii. 29 $t seq.
American Civil War, Artillery
tactics in, i. 228, civilian
strategy in, results ol^
^ z8o-z; parallels, 322, iL
117
Amping, i, 308, 309, 318, 3x9,
Russian move towards
(Jy. 22), 284 ; Russian re-
treat to (Aug. 26), ii. 42,
59-3> ^ 61 f Japanese
Headquarters at (Aug.
30), 80
Anja, t 56, ^fortifications and
garrison o( Russian attack
©Of 35-9
Anshantien,L 308; Russian evacua-
tion of (Aug. 26), iL 65
Antnng, L 119, 135, 186, country
near, 58; relative posi-
tions at (May i2),62, naval
importance of in regard to
Yalu battle, 87, 133
Antnng — Fenghuangcheng tram-
way, L 187
Appointments^ importanceof selec-
tion K>r, iL 3x8
Artillery, Japanese, L ixo^ 173 ;
poor horsing o^ 188, 234,
u. X28, 241 ; Japanese com-
ments on (Oct. 12), 224-6,
author's remarks^ 241-3
Japanese and Russian as em-
ployed in various battles,
L io6-xo^ X2I, 130, 256,
269, 275-6, 289, 291-0,305,
324, 332, 349, ii 38, 40-1,
52, 94, X82-4, 188-9, aox-2,
226
Russian, remarks on tactics o^
L 121, 126-30
Asada, Major- Gmiend, command-
ing advance guard ist
Japanese army, at the
Yalu fight, L 82, 84 ap-
pearance o^ Z46; at Yo-
shirei, 323 ; command-
ing 1st Brigade Guards
Battle of 26 Aug., ii.
44» 549 5^ commanding
Guards Division, Oct. 11,
•64, ii. 195, ai9> Oct. 13,
247
Askoldy Baymn^ and C$Mr$wtkk
Russian warshifM^ escape
of, to Kiaochau, iL 9
866
Index
Attack, poor, of Rasslan soldiers,
i. a57t ^59. 366^ 378
Aug. 31 to Sep. 2. summary of
Japanese prooeediogs^ iL
Z2a #/ seq.
Baba^ Cokmel, commanding 30th
Regt ist Japanese ^^y
i. 233, at Motienling skir-
miui (Jy. 4), 23a at the
Battle of Motienling Qy.
z8), 267, at Manjoyama,
U. 103. 115
Bajisan, taken by Japanese Guards
(Oct 13X ii; a47
Balaschiefl^ General, Director of
the Red Cross, Port
Arthur, iL 317
Balloons in, warfare, drawbacks to,
i. 310 341
Baltio (Rossian) fleet, and the
Dogger Bank a£fidr, a
garued report, ii 280-1
Band-playing, daring Russian
night attack, Chaotao, L
290
Barstow, Captain, Chinampo, i. 53
Battle of the 26th of August
(battle of Liaoyang), Jap-
anese positions before, ii.
34, dunng 3^, 69 and after,
71 ; official intormation
on, 64 et seq. ; author's
visit to scene o^ and com-
ments^ 72 $t seq.
Battalions, number of^ to a regi-
ment, Japanese and Rus-
sian, i. 276
Bayonets, Russian, badness o^
ii. 261, 278, unwise use
o^ i. 235, 238, ii. 231-2,
252^
Beri-beri in the ist Japanese Army,
i. 302
Boers, Japanese, and Russians
{see also S. African War),
comparisons between, i.
5, 6, 43, 59, 85, 105, 113,
ia7, "8, 347, ^' 254
Bonchio Gap, battle of Telissu, ii.
337, 342r3
id
« Box and Cox " Cave, Coal Mines,
ii. 292-3
Br>dge-making, Japanese, Yalu
battle, i. 99-100
British Artillery tactics, S. Aficican
war, i. 129
attach6s^ difficulties o^ with
the First Japanese Army,
L 177^ smoothed by
General Fajiiy 180-3
Indian and Japanese troops
compared L 8-ia^ ag^
329—30
N.C.O.S, compared with Rus-
sian, i. 302-3
Buddhist ceremony at Feast of the
Dead, i. 198-9
Buddhist Sermon, a, ii. 145-7
Bulwana, a parallel, ii. 136
BunsuireL Russian forces at, L 1851
their withdrawal frcaa,
321 & noU^ 222, defences
viewed by author, 241-3
Burial of Russian dead by Japan-
ese, i. 264
Burma, road-making in, L 246
Bushido — and after ?, ii. 17 «# sif .
Calmness, the essential in a Japa-
nese Conunander, Ko-
roki's possession thereof
instances of, i. 313, ii. 42,
43, 205, 208, 257
'' Caste" in England, i. 38
Cavalry, a good country for, L 191
Ji^anese, equipment o^ iL
278-H9; rifle-efficiency oi,
Motienling battle, L 273;
at Heikoutai, ii. 356 &
note ; at Liaoyang battle,
153 & n&U ; brilliant sue-
cess o^ at Pencluho, a^
238-40; at the Shabo
fight, 183; at Tdissn,
339
Japanese and Russian, dis-
mounted at the battle of
Motienling, i. 256; inac-
tion of, Yalu fight, X31
Russian, author's theories
borne out by, i. 191
threatening to communica-
tions, i. 134 ^ seq,^ 319
at Terayama, inaction o(
ii. 215-6
Chang Song, Sasaki's £dnt at, i.
87 ; base of 12th division
(July 15), 252 ; during
Chaotao battle, 292
Index
367
Cbaotao, Russian positions at, !•
224, 230 (Jy. 17 «< «««.)♦
286 e^ seq, ; engagement
at (Jy. 19), 257 ; Jardine's
report on, 281, General
Fujii's talk about 282-5,
details of, 285 et seq,, 318 ;
Inouye*s subsequent
doings 339-40 etseq,; bril-
liant relief of, by Prince
Kanin's cavalry (Oct. 11,
12), ii. 236, 238
Chemulpho, i. 50; Russian naval
wrecks at, 47
China, results of anti-militarism
in, 1. 14
Chionampo Harbour, L 47-8, dis-
embarkation in, of Jap-
anese Imperial Guards,
5«-5
Chinchaputsu village, in relation to
Yoshirei battle, 1. 316, 317,
325-7 ; in relation to the
battle of the 26th Aug., IL
33
Chinchaputsu to Liao^ang viA
Yoshirei, Russian posi-
tions designed to block,
L 315 ei seq.
Chinese, the, as material for sol-
diers, ii 303, and officers,
303-4
coolies, drawbacks to, in war,
i. 244, pay of, 2^5
fight near mountains, 1. 131, 151,
ii. 171
houses in Manchuria,
the decorations, i 215
the '^kong" in, and the
insects, i. 214
natives of Manchuria, charac-
teristics o£ i. 165-9
troops at Fenghuangcheng, i.
163-4
unlikeness o^ to Japanese, facial
and mental, ii. 289, 304
view of Japanese and Russian
occupationsi ii 158, 160,
168
view of Russians, ii. 294
Chintanpu, Japanese post, battle
of Heikoutal^ Russian
losses, ii. 356
Chipanling, in relation to battle
ol Aug. 26, ii. 51, 56
Chiuliencbeng, Russian positions
at, before, during and after
Yalu fight, i. 72, 78, 105,
118, 126; earned by the
Japanese, 1x4
Chiuliencbeng — Sheechong line,
Rusafan left, pomt of
Japanese attack, Yalu
fight, i. 95
Chongchun river, near Anju,i. 137
Chosenrei, Pass, Matsunaga*s at-
tempttoreach(Octi2-i3),
ii. 246-7 & noUs
Chouyuang, Japanese and Russian
troops facing, at, i. 186
Christmas Day in the Japanese
Camp, Yentai Coal Mines,
Namakura's speech, ii
296-8, the author's rhyme
for, 299
Chukodai village, on the Yalu, L
gi, in relation to the
attle, 109, III
Chulsan, post o^ i. 79
Chusan, withdrawsd of Russian
forces from (June '04), 1.
221
Civilisation and military virtue, i.
5, et seq, 12
Coal Mines, 5^« Yentai Coal Mines
Cocksureness, risks of, i. 227
Colenso, a parallel, i. 279
Colonial troops, dislike o^ to spade
work, i. 175-^
Commanders, Japanese ideal of^
ii. 12 fit ssq.; qualities
deemed requisite by the
author, 15
Companies, strength o( Russian
and Japanese, i. 315
Confucianism and progress, a
Japanese dictum on, U
200
Conscription, in Japan, i. 10, 156^ f
244, ii. 10, II '
Coolies, see Chinese and Militarjrifo.
Conservatism, value of, Kuroki on.
W-35I
Cossack troops, i. 71-2, 136-9, 159
Crossing oy, of Taitsuho, U,
236, 238
deficiencies of, i. 59, 166
failure of, Lentowan, discussed,
ii. 136
Fukushima's views on^ L 33
868
Index
Coontryincii v^nus towosmen as
aoldien, i. 5, 6-8, Japanese
views, 9a5--6, ii. 276, en-
dorsed by the author, 377
Courage, Japanese and British, li.
35-6
Cover, Russian disregard of, i. 271,
li. 157, 301-S, and the
need for, 130*1
Crowder, Colonel, U.S. A., L 46
DaiBOSRi— Joshisan, Russian posi-
tion at Telissn, i. 194
Daidoko, fight of the i6th Japanese
Regt. m rouU to, i. 262-3
Daisan (in Shaho battle), iL 184,
exciting climb up 272-5
Dalny, landing of Oyama and
Kodama at (Jy. 15), L 248
Demidrovitch, Lieutenant, 12th
Russian Regiment, L 85
Demonstrations in force, a note
on, i. 279
Disembarkation methods at Chin-
nampo, i. 53-5
Dogger Bank affair, ^uzsling news
received of, li. 280-1
Domonshi, hills near, objective of
Guards (Oct. 13), ii. 247,
457, the attack, 258
Domonshi — Shotatsuko line, Kuro-
ki's intention to take (Oct.
II, evening), ii. 210
Doomkop, a parallel, iL 201, 202
Dum-Dum bullets, alleged use of,
bv Russians, ii. 2
Dundee (S. Africa), British action
concerning, and the Rus-
sian Yalu parallel, L 80^1
Education, Japanese and EngHsh
compared, i. 12, 15, 17, 18
in the Japanese Army, U. 9, 10
Edward VII., King, bhlhda^r of,
Japanese congratulations,
dDc. on, ii 286-9
Eighth Division at Heikoutai, ii
354 & naU, 357 f naU
Elandslaagte, a parallel, ii. 202
En^^and, attitude of Japanese
military men towards, i.
177 ; how to modify this,
in a Japanese allegorical play,
L 157-8
Entrenchments, Japanese
Russian {see aiso Spade
work), i. a82, a»7, 351, n.
47. 89. 33«. 335
European Russian troops, afleged
superiority o^ i. 257, 9B2.
301, an error, corrected.
302-3,how occasioned, 303
Fan, the, in the firing-line^ i. 336
Fenghuangcheng, L 121, 162,
Headquarters Japanese
First Army, 64, 66 «e sif .
207, 210; oatposts at,
179-3 ; Japanese positian
at, after Yala figrnt (June
15)1 187; Japanese fonses
at (Jy. 22), 284
Fenshan, li& at, Sept. 7 to Oct. 9b
ii. 141-170
Firing, bad, of the Rossiana^ L zi2-
"5» a56, 266, 278, jL 78,
104, \o^ets$q^ iio-ii, 186
volley, of the same, i. 1x2,256,
266, 271, 278, 313
independent, of the Japanese^
L 271-2, 311
First engagements, cmdal cha-
racter of^ L 74
Flags in battle, inspiring efiect ol^
ii 50, 213 iwU^ 233-4, «50
Flexibility, Russian lack oi, L 257,
259
Formations, European and Japan-
ese, relative importance
o^ ii. 280
Japanese, on vazioos occa-
sions, i. 271, 282, ii. 2os-^
212 & ncU^ 227, 229 meU^
301
Russian, solid or close, L 271,
277, 278, ii. 184
Formosa, under General g<wiam^
i «9. 30
Fortifications, value o£^ imprsssks
as to, left by Port Arthur,
11.3x0-11, Nogi's view, 311
Franco- Prussian War, French Ar-
tillery tactics in, L 129 ; a
Manchurian parallel, 133
Fredericksburg, parauei, L 95, o.
117
French-trained officers in the Ja*
panose Army,Li49^ ii- S9ii
307
Index
869
*« Friends at Court" In Japan,
drawbacks of, L I7i
Frontal attack, instances of, i. 256,
314, 318, comment on,
FroeschwiUer, village of, the key to
the position, Battle of
Woerth, i. 94
Fuji Yama, i. i, 3, 4
Fujiit Major-General S., Chief of
Staff First Army of Japan,
i. 67, 68, t6i, 211, 334, 289,
310; smooths British at-
tach6*s difficulties, 180-3,
189; cleverness and tact
in giving information, 232-
3 ; hospitality of, 31^1; on
the situation on July 5,
231-2 ; on the military
situation after the Yalu
fight, 1 83 ei seq,^ he invites
(and receives) criticisms,
188-9; niore news on the
above, 199 ; on the position
of the Japanese forces (Jy.
I5)t 247 ei seq, \ on the
situation after Motienling
and Chaotao, 282 ei seq,;
on the relative quality of
European and Siberian-
Russian troop8,^02 ; on the
strategical considerations
before Yoshirei battle, 319,
and on that fight, 334-6,
358
Fukuda, Major, head of Operations
Section, First Japanese
Army, L 148, 212, 310
Fukushima, M ajor-General Sir Y.,
K.C.B., Chief of Second
Section General Staff of
First Japanese Army, i.
20 ; his fsunous ride, 30- x ;
his attitude to the foreign
attaches, etc., 32-3; his
views on Indian and Cos-
sack troops, 33-4 ; his lin-
guistic gifts, 35 ; the loss
of his son, ii. 143
Fusan, i. ^o
Fusan— Liaoyang militaryrailway,
L188
Gabuoro Valley, near Telissu,
fighting at, iL 334 et $$q.
Gebato, object (assumed) of sharp
fighting at, L 276-7
Gebato - to • Shinkwaurei front,
covered by Japanese 2nd
Division, battle of Motien-
ling, i. 258
Geishas, 1. 40-2
Geographical nomenclature, diffi-
culties of, on Korean fron-
tier, i. 89
German militarism, much for
Britons to learn from,ii. 97
system of extensions, as em-
ployed by the Japanese,
1. 141, 143-5, author's
criticisms on, 188, Fujii's
replies, 189
German-trained medical officers
in the Japanese Army, i.
„ 149-5.304
Military officers in the same,
i. 148, 177, 21 1-2
Gemgross, Major-General, at Tel-
issu, ii. 338-40, 344
Gerschelman, Lieutenant-General
commanding Russian
forces at Chaotao (Jy.04),
i. 288, 294, retreat o^ 295
et seq,y criticism on, 299 ei
Gibraltar, basis of its value, ii. 21Z
Gochosan, hill, Russian outpost,
U* 93» fif hting near, 107
Gokarei,Mountain,Kuroki's stand-
point (Aug. 26), ii. 37
Golden Hill, author's visit to,ii3i6
Gravelotte, a desired paraUel, i.309
Guppenberg, General, and the
battle of Heikoutal, Rus-
sian blame of, i. 359
Gunki Yama affair, gallantry and
quick decision of Ota and
his men at, iL 232 6* noUt
236 6* note
Guns, British and Japanese, out-
classed by Russian, ii.190,
I93» 195
Gurkhas, compared with Japanese
troops, i. 8-10, 293
Hagimo, Colonel, Chief of Intelli-
gence Section, First Jap-
anese Aimy i 148, 212,
characteristics of, 324 ; on
training of European Ru8«
2 A
870
Ikdex
sian recruits, L 50a ; his
dassification of the Rus-
sian forces by qnality ,303 ;
bis lectures on the situa-
tion (Oct 04), ii 179, 187,
309 ; on the position on
Oct. 12, 209
Haicheng region, Russian forces
at (June and Jv.)» i 186,
23i,a83--4,their departure,
319, arrival of the 4th Jap-
anese Army (Aug. 3),ii.4
Hmhmi, the " Times '* steamer, i.
50-52
Haldane, Colonel, at Liaoyang, ii.
142
Hamaton rearguard fight, i. 63, 73,
88, true account of, 117 et
sea., map of, given by
Watanabe, 122 ; a parallel,
260 ^M^.
Hanchaputsu, L 317, Japanese at-
taclc on (Jy. 31), 322
Hanlasanshi-Domouflhi une, au-
thor's views of its import-
ance, ii 266-7
Harbin, L 231
Harbour or dockyard, when worse
than useless to fleet, ii
310, Nogi's view, 311
Hasegawa, Lieutenant - (General,
oommandingj apaneselm-
perial Guards, i. 146, 152,
307, atChinchaputsu, 331,
fi. 6 ; promoted as Com-
mander-in-Chief inKorea,
Haya Tan, Japanese destroyer, i.52
Heaven-reaching Pass, Battle of
the, see Motienling Pass,
Battle of
Health of the Japanese Armies, to
what due,,;i. 395, iL 9
Heikoutai, action of Qan. 26-9),
condensed account of^ ii.
3 J 1-2 et seq.: Grippenberg
blamed for in Russia, 360
Heyentai, objective of Guards
and Headquarters of ist
Japanese Army (Sep. 4),
li. 125
Hikida, Colonel, Intelligence Sec-
tion, ist Japanese Army,
Laia
Hiraoka, Major, killed in adke
Cbaotao engagemeat,I^
grets of the author, i 299
Hlangwane Hill, a parallel, L 104
Hodaichosi, slopes o( L 115
Honda, Major, and his battalia
at Penchiho (OctxiU
230-1
Honkeiko, Russians at (J7.26),t
308
H5-6-San, or Phoenix Monntaio.
i. 189 &noiet ezcaisioDto,
205-6, tigers OD, 206
Horses, of the Japanese ArtiDay.
inferiority o^ i. 188, 354.
ii. laS .
Hoshuho, objective of Gotftis
(Oct. 14). ii. 244
Houtnek, a parallel, L 294
Howitzers, at Port Arthur, cBBCt
o^ iL 159, 271, 3"»3M;
Russian, at Nanshas, 32^
at the Yaiu, L 132
Hsinlitun, Japanese advance to,
ii. 95
Hsuehliten, march to, of First Ji*
panese Army, i. 210
Huankubm, intended coooeoba-
tion of ist Japanese army
on, iL 82, 84. troops at
(Aug. 31), 89, 96 ,„...
Hume, Lieutenant-ColoneUBntisB
attach^ with ist Japantfc
Army,L46.i93,att»^^*J
to the Guards,20S, prcsa^^
atYoshirei,326^52fi;sgi
with the Guards, 11. f
158,195 iwto, 222, 34a,«»^''
rifle - shooting success,
ii, 293 -^.
Hunho^ Russian crossings of (Oct
4),ii.i75(Jan-25.'o5).352
IiDA, Lieutenant - Cokmd, Com-
manding 4th Regt. at tia*
kashi,Oct. i7,ii.«o*^;
at lida Yama (Oct- '^^
258 ..
Imamoura, Colonel, and the X4y°
Japanese R^., '»?^*
able detour march oy.
Chaotao engagcmen^ j
293-5, subsequent «»f*
by, 295» «nd ^ *^
297; oonuneuts 00,^97^
~.-x»-
^
^ • !•
iW
■PJUIV
m^sm^gm
Index
371
Immortality of fame, appeal oi^ to
the Japanese, 1. 197
Indian North-west Frontier, rear-
guard fightine on, ii. ^42
Indian troops and tneir British
officers, views on, of Fuka-
shima, i. 33-4
compared with British, %u
British, Indian, and Jap-
anese
Infantry, u$ Japanese and Russian
do, passim
Inonye, Major-General, command-
ing lath Division, First
Japanese Army, i. 73, 147,
IC2, at Chaotao (jy. 19),
^9 ^f 3x8* ^^ tactics
commented on, ^01, 339 «<
seq. ; at the battle of
Yoshkei, 3x5 ; at the Tait-
suho crossing, ii. 96
Insect pests in Mandiuria, L 214,
239, 241, 311
Ishido, Sergeant- Major, L 158
Ishiko, hill north of, i. 88
Ito, Marquis, President of Privy
Council, i 19, 22, 23
Ixaki, General, and the Guards, on
Oct. IX, 12, and 13, ii. X94,
223, 247
JAicBs,Captain, ontheH0lifMifi,L 52
apan, attitude of^ during pre-war
n^otiations, i. 76-7
Emperor of (Mutsuhito I.), i. 37;
his birthday celebrations
in Manchuria, ii. 281
Empress of, her presents to the
Army, i. 194; a misap-
plication thereof 195-^
Japan, First Army of, i. 73
ample food and stores of, i. 222
casualties, a bit of swagger
about, ii. 27X
at battle of Aug. 26, ii, 48
noU
Chaotao, i. 290, 299
Manjuyama, IL 109
Motienlini^ battle, L 264, 275
Takubokujo, i. 222-3
Shaho (Oct. 12)9 i. 209, ii.
213-4, 224
Yalu, i. X15
cleanliness of, i. 223
Headquarters Statto^ L 211
Japan, First Army oi^^eonimued
operations of
before, during and after Yalu
fight, i. 82, 105, no, 14X-5,
X83, 184 ; position of (June
15), 190 etpravif advance
of, 203, (June 22), 204-5
aune 26-Jy. 2), 210-29,
les of communication,
official information on, 243
si seq, ; positions of Qy. 15),
248, (Jy. 26), 308, advance
o( from Lienshankuan
(Aug. 3). 3x0^5^. ; portion
engaged atYoshirei(Jy.3i),
315 ^ seq, ; advance on
Taitsuho, how executed
(Aug. 28), ii. 66-^, objec-
tive of (Aug. 29) 71 ; posi-
tion before and during
crossing of Taitsuho, 93
^seq,\ positions and ob-
jectives of (Sep. 2), 106 ;
pursuit ordered, 124, posi-
tions before, during, and
after Shaho 172 et seq,;
orders to (Oct. 7), 177-8,
communications cut (Oct.
xo) 181, advancing on the
Shaho (Oct. 17), 258-9
opinion of England held by,
i. X77
sections of, history of work
done by
Imperial Guards, heavy
marching order eauip-
ment of,T. 54 ; at Yosnirei
battle, 3x5 et seq.; after
Yushiding, ii. 5 ; in the
battle of Aug. 26, 35, 43,
5X, 54, 56, 63 and after,
67, 69-70* Jh 74 «* «^«t
95; sentagainstmonntain,
151 (Sept. 2), 105, X06, 118,
orders to cSept 4), 12^,
progress with, 129, posi-
tions of (Oct 9), 173-3,
(Oct. 10) 174 ; work of, at
battle of Shaho (Oct. 11),
'94"$ • orders to (Oct. 11
evemng), 210 ; hill, &a,
taken by (Oct. 12,), 2x9;
further progress of 223,
orders to and proceedings
of (Oct 13), 244^S0g.,257-8
372
Indbx
J^MJi, First Army of— ^miInhmiI
Saoood Divisioii, oelel>ratio& of
the Feast of the Dead by
Sine 19), L 196 ; splendid
ystqae of, 201-a, iL x8,
SI ; soorce and character
of 277
wonc oty ac MOueDimK Dartiei
i. 258; at Yosh]rei,3Z4,3i5.
4i siq.; in the battle ot
Aug. 26, iL 35, 37-«,
4«-4» 46, S^f 5^ A 6a,
6}, lones of, 71, and
after, 67, 69, 74, 83, 88; at
Manjuyama, 104 «f seq, ;
occnpies Mountain 131
(Sept 4), 123, orders to
(same date), 124, execn-
tion of, 129 ; orders to,
and position of (Oct. 7),
177-8, the same (Oct 13),
244 $i seq. ; at Hetkontai, iL
354 «•!«><«, 355 «<«?.
6th Company, charactistics
shown by, Motienling
Battle, i 266
i6th Regt., work of at Geb-
ato, i. 27^ ; at Shokorei,
under artillery fire, 273 ; at
Chaotao, 288 et seq. ; joint
attack by, on Rossian
right, Chaotao engage-
ment, 295
Twelfth Division, source and
character of^ it 354 6* no^
277
work of, at Aiho crossing ;
1 14-5. at the Yalu battle
and Hamaton fight, 1^0 et
seq.^ 120 et seq. ; at the Yaln
fight, 133 ; engagement of,
at Chaotao (Jy. 19), 257,
281-4, 339 ; before and
during Yoshirei battle,
307* 310, 314, 315 ; antici-
pated danger to (about Jy.
3i>)> 319 f Russian Intelli-
gence captured by, ii. 7 ;
1 the battle of Aug. 26,
35» 42i 5if 56f 69f and
after, 61, 63 ^ seq,, the
attack on Manjuyama, 96
et seq. and taking of, 102
ei seq. ; positions of,
ordered (Aug. 28), 65, and
Japan, First Army of— Msirnit
Twelfth 'livlsinn— .fiOBfiMii
gained (Aug. 30), ii, 8^7.
tfaey cross the Taitso^
(Aog.3i).87,i89;onkc
to (SepML 4), 12^ pro-
gress with, 129, figbtias
near Sandoha,i30 ; ordos
to (Oct 7). 177. positkfi
of, 178 ; near andatPea-
chiho (Oct 9-»), iSS.
190-1, 231, 236 (Oct i3>
247
Twenty-third Brigade, *ai
o^ taking of Kosard ridge,
iL 54-6
Umezawa Brigade, threatens
Penchiho (Aug. 31)1 °- ^
85, 89, and takes it, 9"
noie, 93
Japan, Second Army of, cona-
tion o(,i.jS3,maTdiot(S
Telisso, ib.; m the Liaff^
tung Peninsula Qvoe ih
S20 ; at Uenshanknan
Qy. 6), 2$2 : at topttg
Fujii (Jy. 16), 24J if^'
march of to Tashihchuj
Oy. ai). ^5 ; p^* f
on July M and «»?' J°'
the battle near Tashib-
chiacFuju on, 305-7 ;«
Haicheng (Aug. 3)ij^J;
news o^ (Aug. rj) »-7 «
advance of (Aug. 29> 7'>
(Aug. 31). 95. (^j^
105 ; socccss <rfj^^
yang 134, mtow »*
south of Taitsoho, 125 J
lighting of (Oct n), J^5
reverse at ShakaJfO (W*
Japan,
!&-*'"
*atfd Army ofj**^
Nogi),advanceo^«'""
northward *dvance (t
a»n. 39. '05). fi- 354 ^
Japan, Fourth Army m (f* *?
NodxuX composttw","
Laja; advance of ««*Sv
Takaboknjo(Jy-f*''^i'
attack on that J«g* "i
24-5). 306 J oi»i5*«*5
(Aug. a8)ii67i «*'*%.
VI
i^^pavrnqp
^K"
«i9iF"^9
«*iv«««
mmmfsmm
Index
378
Japan, Fourth Army oi~^<mUimed
sabsequent work of and
capture of Hsinlitim,ii.95,
131 ; progress of (Sept.
2)> X05 ; objective of (Oct.
11), 193; advance of,
and capture of Sankwaise-
kisan (Oct. 11), T99, aoo^
2 ro-14 &noUSt subsequent
operations, 217, 244 ;
news from 250, 251; loss
by, of Waitosan, 269
and of guns, 269-70, 271
lessons from, 272 ; after
/ Siuyen, 330
Tenth Division, work of at the
Takubokujo fight, i. 222
Japanese, the, in 1904, first impres-
sions of, i 16, later impres-
sions, ii. 21 «^ seq.t place of
women, 17, education,
17-18
Army (se$ also Artillery, Com-
manders, Firing, Signal-
ling, Spade-work, &c,),
characteristics o^ i. 10-
II, 15, 43, 97 audacity,
320, 330, 332, ii 45, 88,
212, 215 ; efficiency, and
its cause, L 200; preli-
minaiv care, 97, 134, 175,
349, it 129; reticence, L
32, 45, 47» 59. 69, 77-8, 148,
178, exceptions, 202, 228,
265
educational standard of, 9,
10
health of, how maintained,
L 305, iL 9
pursuit by, remarks on, i.
116, 279, ii. 148-9
regiments, number of bat-
talions in,i. 276; strength
of companies in, 315
reserves, names for, ii. 43, 44
6* note, size of, i. 74
secret of its successes, iL
246 noU
soldiers o^ excellence o( L
280
calmness of before battle,
i. 207,215
fine material of Infantry,
ii.59
Japanese Army — conHnued
soldiers — continued
honesty of, as to live stock,
L 215
speed and initiative of^ ii.
198
spirit shown by wounded,
i 281, ii. 62
toughness of, ii. 280
subordinate officers, char-
acteristics of, ii. ifr-7
Japanese, civil and military, diffi-
culties of getting in touch
with,i. 172,217,228
interest in the awakening of
China, ii. 303
life and society, pleasant fea-
tures of, i. 23, 37 et seq.
National Anthem, a translation
of, ii. 285 & note
politeness, ii. 23-4; instances o(
143, 260
pride, ii. 21-2
sailors, sources of the best, iL
277
suavity, nature of, i. 76
view of Russian sailors, ii. 307
view of surrender of Port Ar-
thur, iL 307
War Song, author's rhymed
version of, L 169-70, 176
Japanese and British ^^uns out-
classed by Russian, iL 190,
193. 195
military organisation com-
pared, 18
Jardine, Captain, 5th Lancers,
British attach6 with First
Japanese Army, i. 46 ; his
nowledge of Japanese,
57, 179 ; departure of, to
Aiyanmen, 192-3 ; with
Z2th Division, 205 ; de-
spatch from on the Chao-
tao engagement, special
value of, 281-2, pith of,
285^509., 301; news from,
on Kosarei and Yentai, ii.
147-8; with the cavalry,
211, 279
Jibouti, Russian gunboat, arrival
of, above Densotai, L 310
Jokahoshi, i. 260
okesi Japanese appreciation of,
L 68, 208
874
Index
Kaipimo, L 79, 184, details of the
poeitioii at, 187, antici-
pated fighting at 186-7,
a43 ; repolse of tne Ros-
•ians at (Jy. 12), 8^7;
Japanese and Rossian
rorces near, tojL 351,
relative valae o^ Fojli on
(Jy. I5).a48 . ^
Kakaton, Japanese cavalry from,
at Telissu fight, i. 194
Kamiriuka valley, em>rts to dear
(Oct is),ii. ax8«/f«9
Kamimnra, Admiral, defeat A the
Vladivostock fleet by
(Aug. 14), ii. 9
Kanin, Prince, it 156, commanding
Second Cavalry Brigade,
178-9, brilliant success
of near Penchiho (Oct
11-12), 4^6, 338-40
Ktmjo^ a, what it is, ii. 363 noU ; a
neat pun on, 279
Kankuantun, iL 90
Kanthio, the Russian stores at,
stonr of, i. 250-1
Kansoten, advance of Second Divi-
^on Japanese ist Army
to (June 36), L 2x8
Kasan, near the Yalu, i. 83, 135
Kaschtalinsky, General, position
and entrenchments of, be-
fore the Yalu fight, i. 7^,
82, defects of, 132; his
lost opportunity, 86
Katsura, Major-General Count,
Prime Minister, i. 19, 20,
22
Kawasaki, Colonel, 30th Regt., a
day with, at Coal Mines,
ii. 291-2
Keller, General Count, movements
oi^ discussed (Jy. 22-6), i.
276, 284, 306, 307 ; at the
battle of Yosh£rei (Jy. 31^,
i. 315 et seq,, ii. ^3; his
deaths i. 337 ; foreign opi-
nion o^ ii. 163 ; Japanese
admiration of his bravery,
305
Key, the, of a position, defined, i.
94
Kigoshi, Major-General,la3rd Bri-
gade, i2th Division ist
Japanese army, i. 147, 148;
Kigoshi — conHmud
at Chaotao, 389, ags, 297;
at YuahuHng-, 344 ; at Ko-
sarei, fine feat of (Aug. aQ
iL 42 ; with the 5th Di-
vision at Heikoatai, 335
Kinchou, Marquis Oyama a^ I
25-7 ; author's oomic sito-
ation on anivii^ at, s.
320-2
Kinkahoshi, i. 230 ; Russian field
battery a^ MotienKng
Battle, 273 ; in relatioa to
Yoshirei battle^ 536;
events at, before battle
of Aug. 2^ ii* r— 34
Kinteito Island, and the Yala fight
in, L 89, 92, 97, bridge
made to, 99, Japanese ar-
tillery on, 106-10
Kitashirakawa, Prince, First Jap-
anese army, L 15a
Kitchener, Lord, L 3, 1 19, 98s
Kobi (Reserve Regiment), batta-
lions o^ at Kuantiencbca
i. 185 ; record march o^
iL 44 6* noU ; in the
battle of Aog. 26, 44-5,
54 ; Kuroki's use o^ 90 ;
at Heikoutai, 354-5. et ssq,
Kodama, Lieut. -GeneanLl Baron,
Vice-Chief of General
Staff of the Army and
Governor of Formosa, L
19-^0, 28-30, }$ ; ap-
pohited Chief oTStaff to
Oyama (June ax), 904,11
95, landing o^ at Dalny
UY' 15)1 ^ ^S ; meedng
with, aitter Liaoyan^ iL
142-3; he goes to Poet
Arthur (Sept 19) 156 ; as
a host, 289 ; an instrac-
tive luncheon with, 394-5;
last meeting with, 363
Kodama, Major-General T., Com-
manding Engineer First
Japanese Army, L 1491
151, 212 ; his garden and
its moral lessons, 304
Kohoshi, objective of Imperial
Guards, battle of Aug. 26^
"• 5»» 52, gained by, 63
Kokahosbi, ii. 59
Kokashi village,Terayama, iLaoi-a
Index
375
iComora, Baron, Minister of Foreign
Affairs, L la 20
K^Snl^^atz, Von Moltke's concen-
tration at, a parallel, il.
133 & note
Korea, as seen by Captain Vincent,
i. 485-7 ^
Russian operations in, before
and after the Yalu fight i.
79, 134 ^seq.
Korean coolies, utilised by Japan,
pay o^ i. 245
houses, dirtiness of, i. 59
natives first impressions o^ L
47, and characteristics o^
56--7, their live stodc, 159-
60
Kosarei, Mountain and ridge, in
relation to battle of 26
Aug., iL 39, 41, taken by
Japanese, 54-6, 58, 60, 73,
147-8
Koantienchen, i. 182, good service
of the Kobi battalions at,
185
Kujo, Prince M., i. 22
Kungshan Mountain, held by 2nd
Division, Japanese army,
Aug. 26, il. 56
Knni, Prince, A.D.C. to Marshal
Kuroki, L 59, 67 ei passim^
at the Feast of the Dead,
i. 196 ; at a popular play,
57
Konshintai, 4th Arm3r's cavalry at,
Aug. 29, IL 70
Kurita, Lieutenant-Colonel, head
of Transport and Supply
Section. First Japanese
Army, L 148, 212, 243, ii,
106 ; on the Russian ca-
valry attempt to cut com-
munications in Korea, L
34 ei seq.
Kuroda, Captain, Adjutant to
General Officer command-
ing First Japanese Army,
L 212
Kuroki, Marshal Baron, Com-
manding First Japanese
Army, i. 51, 21 1. et passim^
m famille^ 52, nrst meet-
ings with, 67, 71 ; posi-
tions of before, during
and after Yalu fight, 73,
K\mkir-caHiimi$d
e^seq.; his entertainment
of the foreign attach6s
after the Battle of the
Yalu, i. 145, 153, the
author responds, 153-41
the decorations, 154-6,
plays and other amuse-
ments, 156-8, the Russian
prisoners* dinner, 159 ;
author attached to^ during
advance of First Japanese
Army, 205 fit seq, ; hospi-
tality of, en route, 207 ;
success of, at Motienling
Battle, to what due, 258 :
his calmness, 313, and
methods with his Staff, ii
12 et seq,y appreciation of
his calmness by the
Japanese, 43, 205, 208.
251 ; and the battle ot
Yoshirei (Jy. 31), i. 315 et
seq, , 319 ; at the battle
of Aug. 26, iL 37, 39, 40
et seq, ; his handling of
Reserves, 44-5, 90 ; check
to his left, 83 et pravi ; on
the slopes of Manjuyama,
X26-7 ; during the battle
of the Shsdho, 187-9 1
orders o^ evening of Oct.
2,2x0; congratulations to,
on the Emperor's birth-
day, 281 ; Japanese New
Year's Day feast with,
302^^5^.; farewell break-
hst with (Jan- 3© '05), 349 ;
farewell banquet given by
to the author (Feb. 3, '05),
359-60, a last glass with,
361
Kuropatkin, General (Passim)^ and
the battle of the Yalu, i.
75, 78 et seq,, subsequent
positions, o^ 203, 220^
puxxle provided by, 230-2,
248-50, Fujii's specula-
tions thereon, 283-4, 307,
319 ; dispositions of,
against Japanese (Aug.
12), Yoshirei battle, 340
^ seq, ; date of his resolu-
tion to retire, after the
battle of 26 Aug., ii. 84 ^
376
(Oct.6K iL 175; pro-
o^ 00 bis
; Tamaka's
on, SS6-76'
Ko^rentkai hiOSb Rnvjin
■MBts at, iL 89
KTokaboshi, advance of J;
Giianls to (J one 26), L aiS
KjimtD IsUnd, and tbe battle o(
tbe Yaln, L 97-9t no
Ladtsmith, a paianfi, n. 54;
o€ bovkxen at 3tx-s
Lain^^ Nek, a paianfi, n. 156
y^whrk, in febukm to batde o€
An^. 261. n. 4a
Laokyo — Sotnabo Ime, taken by
8tb Division, Heikontai
fifbt,ii. 355
T*«^t_ objective ci and Division
ist Japanese Army, (S^.
4) ii. 125
Lcntowan, Japanese crossiiis of
Taitsobo at, ordered, iL
85-7, ezecoted, 88 tt seq.
Liao cirer, tyidge-making ttte at,
ii 167-8
Liaotang Peninsula, and Japanese
Anny in (Jane, 04), L
n. 193
Liaojang, Battle o<, sm mlso Battle
of 26 Aog^ mmd Yosbiiei
general impressions on, iL 132
€i SA7. mere and official
detaus, 15a et seq.
Russian movements at and
near before tbe battle,
L 187, 210,* 831, 833, ^5«
828, 232, 25O1 285, 316 a
9tq.i relative position of
combatants to, after Yo-
shirei battle, 363
Ibrts of captured by and and
4tb Japanese Armies, iL
124
objective of Stakdberg (Oct
rood, character of country
near, L 191, Japanese
advance army, 210
Rossian reinforcements vi4,
battle of Aug. 36, iL 57
vaD^, L a35, ^3i^^s^^
L8L4, Russian tcrz:f=
at, i85,tlie burning of tier
stores at, 223 ; H.Q. 2zi
Army (Jnly 6>, 333, bf
in rdaiicHt to the Motk&
ling Pass battle, 333 c
Uf^ 258, 360, 310 £i seq.
finrhatal, L 219, a talk with Fjp
at, 330
Lives, risking or sparing bf
Gcnaals/rvs amd C4as i3t
n- 345^360
LoQpholeSk in rrfatimi to ▼akzeof
coyer; L 130— i
fjntatai, objecdvo of aad Dins^
(Sep. 4), iL 124
Loaisbonrg, a parallel, L 347
Loyalty among officers, lessons oc,
ii-46.97
Lydenberg, a paralld, iL 136
llcCauL,lfl58 Etbd, at Fef^nzfr
cbeng, L 171-a
llacDonald, Sir Qande, L 19
llajobfl^ a resemblance, L 346
llakan, Rnssian battery near. Yak
fi^t, L no, in
liaknmenaa, Rossian forces at i
230, r^olse 374, fight at
374-5, position secnred b?
Japanese, 375, 376
Makorayama, Mountain, in reb-
tion to Yosbirei battle, I
340f 34^ Japanese attack
". 345 « «?.
If anchoria,diq»6ltk)in of Japanese
troc^ps in and near (Jane
15), L 190
£uiiung in, L 65<-6, 166
French, American, and Ger*
man comparisons of; L 65
liver valley land fd^ ficatiBes
o( L 313-5, 219
Southern, Japanese estimate of
Russian troops in, Jane
15, L 186
Manchorian War, lessons ctf to
officers, iL 497
Index
877
Itftanjajrama, Russian Outpost
(Sept. i), il. 93, 95. Japa-
nese attack on, 96 et seq.^
and taking of, 102 et seq.,
position at, next day, zo6,
Russian assaults on, 113
et seq. ; after the fighting,
127 ; some lessons of, 140 ;
more details, 159
Maps, lack of, and badness of, ii.
i8i-a
March, Captain, U.S.A. Artillery,
i.46
Mami, Major-Greneral, command-
ing a brigade, in attack on
Sankwaisekisan, ii. 213
note
Matoriroff, Lieutenant - Colonel,
attempt of to cut com-
munications in Korea, i.
135 et seq.
Matsuishi, Colonel,Assistant-Chief
of Staff, First Japanese
Army, i. 148, 191, 211,
243t 305; a send-ofi^ to
Tokio (Sept 15), ii. 150-1
Matsnmoto, Colonel, commanding
Artilleiy, First Japanese
Army, i. 149, 912
Matsunaga, Major-General, com-
manding 3rd Brigade ist
Japanese Army, L 147, ii.
69, 83, at Yoshird, L 321,
at Manjuyama, ii. 11 5-6
& note ; efforts of to reach
Sanjoshisan (Oct. iz), 196,
successful assault on, 198,
further doings (Oct 12),
218-9 & note ; attempt of
to reach Chosenrei (Oct.
I3)» «45-<5 * notes; ap-
pointed Chief of Staff to
General Nogi, his appear-
ance, 358
Maxwell, Mr., of the *' Standard,"
L 194-^f ii. 92; and the
Japanese war-song, L 169,
176
Mayapuza, in relation to Yoshirei
battle, i. 322
Miage, Captain, Adjutant to In-
teliigence Section First
Japanese Army, i. 212
Military bravery, Japsmese ad-
miration for, 1. 265
Military — continued
conservatism, advantages of, L
313
coolies, employed by the Japa-
nese, details concerning,
i. 243 et seq.
Mingshan and Shishan Mountains
taken by Stakelberc; (Oct.
9), success not followed
up, it 191, fresh Russian
attack on from Penchiho
repulsed (Oct. 12), 231
« Minstrel Boy, The," at Feng-
huangchen, i. 209
Mistchenko, Generad, i. 183-5, I9Z>
, , "• 354. 356
Mobility, Japanese, i. 266
Modesty, national variants o^ iL
161-2
Mokabo, fighting near (Aug. 30),
ii. 75 et seq.
Moral, part played by at Liaoyang,
ii. i39-4<*
^' Most favoured nation," England
not in the position o£^ in
Japanese military con-
sideration, i. 178, smooth
speech by Fujii concern-
ing, 182
Motienling Pass, i, 223, Russian
forces near, 18^; Rus-
sian withdrawal from,
222
skirmish at, i. 230, an affafr
of outposts, 230, 252,
author's visit to the scene
of Hy. 6), 231 et seq.
battle of (Jy. 17), L 253 et seq.,
points of note in, 257-^,
the progress of the nght
in detail, 259 et seq.
crossing o£^ by First Japanese
Army (Aug. 3), i. 31 1-2
importance to the Japanese,
during Yoshirei battle, i.
190,322
Motienling range and valleys, L
315-6, passes over, 316,
Russian positions in re-
gard to, at the battle of
Yoshfrei, 316 et seq.
Mountain guns, insufficiency of^
with both contending
parties in Manchuria, L
278, effects of this on the
S78
Ini>sx
If oontain guns — conHtmsd
Japanese side, 279 ; ased
at battle of Aug. 26, ii.
47. 50. 53
lloantain 131, Russian outpost, ii
r\, 93, attack on, 105
, 3i9,qaitted by Russians
(Jy. 28), 308, their retreat
on ( Aiic;.)f u. 89 ; Japanese
objective (October), 211 ;
Russians Calling back on
early on Oct. 13, 224
llutauhito I., Emperor of Japan,
i* 37t bis birthday kept by
the Army, ii. 281
NAAMAN,the S]nrian, his precedent
followed by the author, i.
199
Namakura the author's Japanese
interpreter, i. 214, li 260,
as a mimic, 288, his noble
efibrts on Christmas Day,
296-8, the author's verses
on, 299
Nanshan, fight, L 226 ; visit to the
battlefield of, ii. 323-7
Nanxan, taken by 30th Regt. (Oct.
12), iL 217 6* note 217-18
Napoleon I., views of, on use of
Reserves, ii. 45; on the
importance of the Leader,
139
Napoleon III., and his military
attach^ at Berlin, 1870.,
L313
Nashimoto, Prince, iL 156
National life, what it consists in,
ii. 33-4
Naval and military fighting, a com-
parison, li. 18 gt seq.
Nenkyaten, burnt by retreating
Russians (Jy. 25), L 306
Newchwang, i. 79, 250, and the
missionsuries, ii. X04
Nidoboshi, or ** cross roads," i. 225
Nishi, Major-General Baron, com-
manding 2nd Division,
First Japanese Army, L
147, 152, i99i 235; and the
advance on Antung, 119-
20; at the Feast of the
Deiad, 196, his oration,
197, the author's associa-
tion in the ceremonies,
Nishi
198, 199 ; In the hatdt :
Aug. 36, ii. 43
Nishijima, General, ror^^ft^^^^
the 2nd Divisioo at E:
koatai, iL 355
Nodxu, General, coannaiidbig '^c
Japanese Divisioa Fos'^
Army, landing oi, L 22;
afterwards rrhmm?^^^:
the Fourth Aiuiy,appes:
ance of, iL 156, a caul x
157
Nogi« General, commander of 6e
3rd Japanese Army.iiars
under at Port Arthor \]j
5), L 23a, 347, yy;, yc
views of, on howit^eG, 1
159; meeting with (JaiLii,
*o5). 3061 dinner with Qn.
22), views of on fbrtifci-
tions, &ap 311 ; atti^>ds
on death of his sons, 23>
thor's impressions oL 31:
Novik, Russian warship, escape at
(Aug. 10), ii. 9, sunk late;
35
Nure, Captain, Chief of MidtzrT
Police, First Japsnese
Army, L 212
Officers and men, combinatioDof
ensuring first-class resoks,
a Japanese dictum, L 200
Oka, Major, killed at Takubokujo,
L 222
Okahoshi, Russian turning move-
ment from, battle of Mo-
tienling, L 26o» resuldn; ii
^ a smart fight, 261
Okasaki, General, commandios
15th Brigade 2ndDivi90ii,
ist Japanese Army, L 147,
333> u. 42; his generosity,
L 281 ; at Moticmling, 267 ;
at Yoshirei, success oi &t
Penlin, 3x8, 32x^56 etstq^
attack o^ on Manjuyaioa,
96 et s^, 118; bisassanit
of Terayama (Oct 1 1), iL
193, 199, 208, commeots
ou the foregoing, 212-61
further success o^ at bHI
near Sankas^i, 317; at
I tempts to storm moost
-„-^
■%«
-1^
Index
379
north of Shotatsuko (Oct.
ia-13), 337. 241, 244, 248
et seq.f stin encounter of
near Renkwasan(Oct.i3),
; 354t 263; observance of
r the Emperor's birthday,
[ 282; departure of, ill (Nov.
22), 390-I1 recovery and
return, 291 note.
Okasaki Yania(Mountain)J apanese
attempted occupation of
(Oct. 5), ii. 175 & note,
nght for and success of
Okasaki (Oct. 12), 217 &
note, 244, 24S-54, import-
ance of, 255-6, 257, au-
thor's visit to, after the
battle, 260
\ Orloffy General, and his Cossacks
concentrated at Yentai,
; ii. 107, his flight, 110, z 15
' Osaka soldiers, "townies," un-
^ military notions o^ i. 226
Osekito Island, Yalu river, i. 89, 97
' Oku, General, of the Second Ja-
panese Army, his march
to meet troops «» route for
Port Arthur, i. 161 ; his
entry into Haicheng, ii.
114; a visit to, 151. his
appearance, 156; witn his
forces at TeUssu, 31, 33,
78, his strategy there,
I 344~5i 347
Omdurman, battle o^ a parallel, i.
269
Omura, Captain, Adjutant to Ope-
rations Section, First Ja-
panese Army, L 2x2
Ota, Lieutenant-Colonel, gallantry
and quick decision of at
Taling (Oct 12), ii. 233
Outposts, Russian, carelessness of,
ii.58
Gyama, Lieutenant - General
(known as Marshal) Mar-
anis, Chief of General
Staff of the Army, i. 19, 22,
career of, 23-8 ; appointed
to the supreme command
in Manchuria, 204, 308-9,
landing o^at Daln^Qy.is)
248 ; congratulations of,
to the ist Japanese Army,
Oyama — conHnued
on the Battle of Aug. 26^
ii. 65; share o^ in the
success at Liaoyang, 138,
author's meeting with,
after Liaoyang, 142-3 ;
orders armies to concen-
trate (Oct. 8X 178 ; a his-
toric dinner with, and his
generals, 156 ; reserves
sent by, to First Army
iOct. 13), 251-2 ; present
rom, on the King's birth-
day, 286 ; luncheon with,
and with Kodama (Nov.
23)1 289
Oyanagi, Colonel (ranking with),
Chief Paymaster^ First
Japanese Army, i. 212
Papanlin, in relation to Yoshirei
battle, i. 323 ; and to that
of Aug. 26, iL 51, taken
by Japanese, 56
Patriotism, Japanese and British,
«5» a7i 29, 33; in the
military drama, 301-3
Peace and the Chinese peril, i. 167
terms of, a discussion on
(June), 227
Penchiho or Honkeiko, Japanese
reconnaissance near, Cha-
otao fight, L 292; Rus-
sians at, same time, 294 ;
fighting at, Yoshirei battle,
351-2; Russian strength
at, and retreat firom (Aug.
26), ii 65, menaced by
them(Sept.i9), Umexawa's
efforts to protect, 173, i8z;
affairs at, during Oct. 1 1,
190, 207 ; on Oct. 12, 218,
330 ; Russian attack,
231-2; serious state of
things, 236 ; Kanin's bril-
liant cavalry success near,
and rehef o^ 237 et seq. ;
the sending of Matsunaga
to, discussed, 255; Rus-
sian turning movement
at, criticised at, 265-7
Penlin, taken by Japanese, L 318,
they are driven out, 339
et seq,, 344 ; the Russians
again driven off,353 et seq^
S80
Indsx
topography of the district,
L 543 «f Mf .
Penlfai — Lipyui — Hochatsa road,
Russian losses along, i.
356 «f S0q.
Penooal appearance, different
standards o^ Japanese
andWesteni, i.ao, 17,24.
29.146
eiposiire of Russian officers,
Ifotienlinc battle, bad
effects o{^ 271
Peraooality, Japanese military in-
difoence to, iL 15-17 6*
Mf 139
PhjTsiqae, diffierences in, of Eng-
lish, Scotch, and Irish, i.
Port Arthnr
by the
11. 315-17
a^
Picqaet, Japanese, on Daisan,
ignorance of, as to foreign
attach^ iL 272-5
Picqnets, Russian, at Malcurayama,
i- 345-^. 361
Pigeon Bay, success near, iL 295
Pinamfn, Japanese pursuit to (Jy.
25, 04) L 306
Pingtaitsu, Umesawa's success at
(Sept 2), iL 1 19, his fight
at (Sept. 17), 173, and
retreat from, 177
Pingyang city, i. 57, 79, 83, curi-
ons shape of, 56
estuary, L 47, 52
flats, i. 56
Poetry and warfare, L 27, iL 286-p^
Pompoms, moral destroying quah-
ties o^ i 272
Port Arthur, earlier siege of,
Oyamaat,L 25-7, opposing
forces converging on, 161,
Russian forces at (June
15), 187, Japanese do,
(June 19), 203, (Jy, 15)
247, progress of her in-
vestment, 307, 310, ii. 61,
defeat of the Russian fleet
at (Aug. 10), 9, further
progress of the siege, 20,
I59i 168-9, as affected by
howitzers, 270-1 , the siege
continues, 295, fall o£
news received at Coal
Mines (Jan. i, '05), 300,
Japanese news on, 307
t
183
u
Ramob-finding, Rossaan suds :
ii-94
Rearguard figfatingv India, sl
S, Africa, ii. 342
Red ti^" or etiquette — a ksx
ii-96-7
Regiments, Russian and Japx^
number of battahocs x
L 276; strenglb ofccc
panies in, 315
Reinforcements, a lesson <a, s>
123
Religion, attitude of the Japass
Generals to, L 200
Rennenkamp^ General, st S^
machi, L 185, 203, ai&ae
is wounded, 319, cross^
Taitsuho, iL 181, 25^ £a
ther movements o^ i^
191, 192, is diiveo bad
238-40
Renkwasan, action near (Oct 13*
iL 263
Reserves, bottling-up o( anthK^
view on, i. 301
Japanese, Kuroki's handiii^ci
IL 42-3, 54, 90 ; names of
L285 Moto,3i5<$'jioCe,iL43
44 &noU
Russian (Aug. 29),7i, retreat d
Telissu, 342
Resistance or surrender, ethics oi
i- 24i» 359
Reticence of Japanese commaod-
ers, etc., instances of; L 3:,
45.47.59.69-71.77-8,145.
178, 285, << eiceptioss
prove the mle^'' 702^
232-3
Retreat, steadiness of Russian st^-
diers in, L 264. 272, 178,
297, 299, iL 52, 131, 137
tiseq.
Rice^ inadequacy o^ as food for
Europeans, 1 58, 153, i6cy
218, 220
Rihorei, in relation to the Yoshixei
battle, 1,326
J
n
Index
381
c.aLl:i.08hi9 ascending ground be-
t yond, to the Motienling
Pass, L 233
k-^nralio, environs o^ i. 57
^a.dinaking and repairing^British
r superiority over Japanese
in, i. 346
ol>ert8, £arl, i. 9, 22, ii. 246 noUf
. 294, 3^
ocky Hill, Japanese use of ar-
tillery from, Motienling
battle, L 269, effects o^
275-6
lodoko, advance of 12th Division,
First Japanese Army to,
i. 218
;* Rooski," the terrier, joins the
author, ii. 74, 79, 128, 165,
329, her original owner
and intended fate, 305
Roshisan, Kuroki's march to (Aug.
' 28^ ii. 63, 64, 66
^ Ruriky Russian warship, sunk near
Tshushima (Aug. 14), ii. 9
' Ruskin, cited on the Benefits of
* War, i. 14
i Russia in Manchuria, opposite
* views on, of Great Britain
' and Japan, i. 75-7
Russian action at battle of Motien-
{ ling, author's comments
on, L 277-8
i advance south against Second
Japanese Army, i. 183 ;
i on Yentai, ii. 107
Army, characteristics of^ 1. 10,
42-3, ii. 207
sixe of, L 74
artillery, Chaotao fight, i. 291-2
tactics, Hamaton nght,
J 21-30
bayonet charge, Japanese ac-
; count of, L 238
$ bayonets, bending o^ ii. 261,
f 278; see also 2^2 note
bravery, conspicuous at Hei-
koutai, ii. 356, at Penchiho,
231, at Sankwaisekisan,
, 3i3-4« at Waitosan, 281,
) at Yoshirei, i. 359
casualties, at Chaotao, i. 299 ;
Cbintanpu, ii. 355; Mo-
tienling battle, i. 275,
causes of, 275-6 ; Manyu-
jama, ii z 15 6* note ; battle
Russian casualties — continued
of the Shaho, 268 & noU^
269
cavaky in Korea, attempt of to
cut communications, i. 134
et seq, ; author's theories
borne out by, 191
character, attractive traits of,
iL 163
Commissariat, a funny story o(
i. 250-1
entrenchments at Chaotao^ i.
282, 287, at Penlin, 344,
349
guns, power and activity of as
seen at the battle of Oct.
II, ii. 190, 193 ; captured,
Japanese opinion on, i6z,
351
gunnery, poor quality of, ii. 227
infantry, at the Yalu fight, L
130; advance o^ near
Sanjoshisan (Oct. 11), ii.
189-90
military defects noted
badness of Intelligence De-
partment, and misleading
news received, U. 7, 8,
158, 160
disregard of cover, SMCover
disr^ard of secrecy and
swiftness^ L 341-2
indecision, ii. 192
lack of dash, ii. 184-5
of good generalship, i. 359
of initiative, ii. 64, 86-7,
88-9
of mobility and flexibility,
il 198
picquets at Makurayama, criti-
cism on, i. 345-6, 361
positions before, during and
after battie of the Yalu,
L 62, 91, frontal length
of, 95, 132, carried by the
Japanese, zi 5, defects and
merits, 115, 132 ; Motien-
ling fight and battie, 230
et seq., 240, 255 ^ seq^
author's criticisms on,
265, after the battie, Fujii
on, 283; Japanese crossing
of the Taitsuho, ii. 93 et
seq,, Shaho battie, 171 ei
seq.t 180 et esq.
882
Index
Rossiao prisoners, anthor'sfeeling
on seeing, i. 317 ; other
met with, ii. a, ^, 363
regiment, number of battalions
in, L 2j6; strength of
companies in, 315
retreats {s$e also Retreat), Mo-
tienling battle, i. 270, why
they lost their advantages,
271 ; from Chaotao, im-
portance of line of, 287-
8, 297-9 ; after battle of
Aug. 26, ii. 42, 52-3, 60,
6x, 65, 72, 84 naU, 137;
(Sept. 6), information on,
128-9; (Oct. 13), 245 rf
ssq ; general, begun (Oct.
13). «58;Telis8u,342
soldiers,
bad markmanship oi^ see
Firing
honesty of^ as to live stock
1. 2x5
latent good qualities in, i.
139
sang froid, under rifle fire,
Motienling battle, i. 272,
279
steadiness in retreati i. 264,
272, 278, 297, 299
tactical mistakes in battle of
the Shaho, author's com-
ment, ii, 261-2
tactics, at Chaotao, i. 282, 289
et seq,
threats as to successive Euro-
pean armies, discussed, L
226-7
troops, European said to be
better than Siberian, L
257, 282, 301, an error, and
how it arose, 302-3
wounded, Motienling Pass, i.
«34
Russians, a Chinese view of, ii. 81
Safutum, Russian retreat on (Sept.
2), ii. 115
Salgo, Captain, tiie Marquis, Ja-
panese Imperial Guards,
f.46, 59, iL 187
Saimachi, L 184, 294; Rennen-
kampf s forces at (June
15) 1^5! march to of
Twelfth Division, First
cf n
Japanese Army, L 19a. 21
Russian advance
109 ; oocapatkn
Japanese faroes. 27i
weak point in tine Ju
ai
237
St. Aubyn, Miss, at Feqgtmirr
cheng^i. 171 -a
Saito, Captain, Supplies Secb:^
ist Ts^ianese Army» L 2.:
Sandiasi. hul near, occupied r
Second Diviston, n. 6cr
Sandoha, objective of the Tvdi:
Division, First Japarss
Army (Sept. 4), i. 124
fight near, 130 & mate
Sanjago occupied by Impens.
Guardis, First Japaaoe
Army, ii. 63
Sanjoshisan, artillery fire on (Oc:
II), ii. 189; Matsoiup^
attack on, i g6. success d
198, aiS; Japanese hai
tery near (Oct 12), 244-f
Sanjoshi Yama (hill) takes h
Izaki and the Goans
(Oct. I a), ii. 223
Sankashif field hospital at, and ib
patients, iL 27^-9
Valley, mountains north d
held by Russians (Octii,-.
201, their guns on, 206-7:
positions in (Ck;t. 1 1 ), 209
Sankwaisekisan hiU, Umeiava's
fightnear(Sept4),ii 131,
173; Russian guns cc
(Oct II), 2o6>7, caphind
by Nodzu (OcL 11, nigbt
of), 210-14, the Idii de-
scribed, 211
Sanseito, height east of occqxed
by Japanese (Jy, 24), i.
Sanna*s Post, a paralld, i 299
'd, Major-General, 12th Bri-
fdcFirstJapaneseArmr.
147 ; at Changsoof, 87
at Saimachi, 185; at
Chaotao, 291, remarlahle
Toxr^ by, 393; success
at Penhng (Jy, 31), «8,
344* 353 «< «9- ; at batds
of Aug. 26,1156
Index
883
assulitcb. General, at the Yalu
: fight, i. 70, 8a, 84, 86, 87,
defects of his position, 1 32
'SlIo^w , Colonel, Japanese artillery,
i. 46, J9, u. 270, 280
la.t8tunay rebellion, i. 34
■"* — »-i — \^ a missed opportunity at,
i. 338
^eisekisan, £all o£ to the Japanese
(Jy. 25), i. 306
;3ekijo, retreat of Russian left
£rom, Yaln fight, i. 114,
Rassian guns at, 115,
strong resistance at, 118
^Sekimonsei range, peak in gained
' by Matsonaga (Aog. 29),
^ iL7o
Senkin pass, skirmish at, ii. 238-9
Senkiujo, Matsunaga's dash from,
under fire (Oct 12), iL
226-9 & noUs
Seonl, described by Vincent, i. 51
Seoul — Wiju railway, i. 187
Servant question in Japan, i 36-7
Shaho, objective of 2nd Japanese
army (Ang. 28), u. 66
Battle o^ positions before,
daring and after, ii. 171,
177
author s comments on Rassian
tactics in, 204-7
Shakaho, the 2nd Army at (Oct.
I5),ii. 264, reverse of Jap-
anese (Oct. 17), 270
Sheechonf, i. 88, 89
Shiba, Colonel, Japanese artillery,
i. 48 ; and his troops, at
Chaotao, 292; atTelissu,
ii. 340-1
Shibayama, Captain, Adjutant to
Genl.OfficerCommanding
ist Japanese Army, i. 212
Shibuya, General, Chief of Line of
Communications, i. 64
Shi-Ho, river and valley, i. 286-7 !
Japanese crossing of,
during Yoshirei battle,
350 ; Russian positions on
(Jy. 31), 318 ; Inouye's
entrenchments (Jy. 20),
339-40
Shimamora Brigade, defence o^ on
Manjuyama, iL 104, 167
Shimamura, General, brings rdn-
foreements into Pen-
Shimamura — continued
chiho (Oct. 9), iL 191, and
regains possession of
Shishan, 191-3
Shimonoseki, i. 44
Shinkwairei Mt. {see also Gebato),
Russian repulse on, L 274
Shinto ceremony at Feast of the
Dead, i. 196-8
Shintoism, as a military faith,
i. 199
Shisan, L339, Rusdan position and
guns on, 340, 342, 354
Japanese mountain guns
on, excellence of arranf;e-
ments, 349-50, Russian
withdrawal from (Jy. 31),
352-3
Shishan, ridge, &c., taken by
Stakelberg (Oct. 9) and l^
Shimamura (Oct 10), iL
191-2
Shohokka, Japanese cavalry at
(Tan. 25 '05) iL 356
Shokonsai, the, or Feast of the
Dead at Fenghuangcheng
(June 19)^ L 196 et seq.
Shokorei Mountams, afiair of the
7th Japanese Company
on, L 262; Russian left
on, Motienling battle, 269,
270
Shotatsuko, fighting at (Oct iiX
ii. 199
Shiusenpu— Kotagai (S. of Taitsa-
ho) line, objective of First
Japanese Army (Aug. 29),
li. 71
Siberian troops, good qualities of,
L303, see also European; at
Yoshirei battle, 315, good
marksmanship and cour-
age of, a Japanese tri-
bute, 328
Signalling, visual, in the Japanese
army lack of arrange-
ments for, L 173-4, 196 &
note, 241, 323, author's
criticisms, on, 188, Fujii's
reply, 189 ; a case in point,
121
Siuyen, i. 184, Japanese Guards
at, 190
Smokeless powder, Russian and
Japanese, bright flash
S84
Ikdsx
Smokelen ^wdtx—eaftHnued
emitted by, i. 314, 350,
haxe from, 278, 314
Smuts, General, his view on ex-
penditore of life in war-
nre, endoraed by the
anthor, iL 359
Socialistic error, ii, 328
Sodaiko Eikaseki outworks, car-
ried byjapanese3rd Army
Gy. 29), i. 310
Sokako, Japanese march to, i. 224;
position ol^ 228-9
Soldiers, peasants versus city-bred
men as, i. 5, 6, 8, Japanese
views,223-6,276,endor8ed
bv author, 277
South African War, lessons from,
and parallels to, L 5, 6, 8,
80-1, 91, "o, 127-9, 157,
175, 181, 199, 210, 211,
215. 233» 266, 279, 294,
299» 310. 3i3i 329. 3461
354. 359; ii- ". 27, 34,
58. 97, 136, 167, 182, i88>
195, 201, 202, 23s fk>Uf
254, 3", 343
Spade work {su also Entrench-
ments), British and Rus-
sian neglect of^ L 175,
Japanese attention to,
175-6, 226
Speed of Japanese infantry in
attack at the double, i.
142-5, instances ot iL 202,
905
Spion Kop, a parallel, ii. 235 note
Staff-officers, Japanese ideal of, ii.
12 et seq.
Stakelberg, General, iL 180, foreign
opinion of^ 163 ; atTelissu,
331 a seq.
Stdffel, Colonel Baron, French
military attach^, Berlin,
1870, i. 513
Stoessel, General, the first Japan-
ese meeting with, alter the
siege, his meeting with
Nogi, iL 313-5
Strategy at Liaoyai^, iLis6et seq.
Sugiura, Dr., iL 9
Smtechansa, artillery duel near,
Yoshirei battle, i. 324 etseq.
Sukaton, Japanese troops from, at
Tdlissu fight, i. 194
Sumeda, P^p»at«i^ gaHawtry «f gj
of his niea at Saakvss
kisan, iL 3x4 maU
Snmino, Sergeant-Major. &. 2
Suminoye Maru^ militaiy i>j— f»^-
ship, i. 44, 44
Suribachiyama Hdl, YaJa^^i
III ^ note, 1x4, 117, a2r
the battle^, 119; Rass:^
guns^north of, la^antbcr i
ice-breaking pun on, ici
Hill (No. 2), s«s Okasaki-yaisz
Swallow's Nest Hill, iL 89. :r:
scene from, at ciossiagd
Taitsoho, 92 et sef.
Swat ▼alley, road-maJking m, L 2^
Tachibama, Major, comma»fi«B
Japanese outposts, Cbao-
tao engagement, LiSg^ts
casualties, 290
Tactics at Liaqjrang, iL 156
Tafiangshen. in relation to i^
Teussn battle, iL 341-2
Taheirei, Russian first iise ot
works on, <»uxied (JJ.24I
L306
Taitsuho, me, in the line ofntaxc^
Japanese First Army Qj.
1 5), i. 249; Kuroki'smarci:
on (Aug. 28 et seq.), iL 67,
and crossings of, 85 «k
87 noU^ 88 et seq.
Taiyo, iL 171-2 ; the tactics! poo-
tion on (Oct 9), ij2 etst^,
Takubokujo, advance against, d
Fourth Japanese Anoj
(Jy. 22), i. 283 ; Rosaaa
position near, after evacc-
ation Qy. 24-5), 507;
Fourth Japanese Army at
(Aug. 3), u. 4
Takushan, landing of Nodio^
division at (May), L 220;
Japanese Division landed
at Tabout June 19), 203;
landing of Fourth Army
at ii. 331
Talana Hill, a parallel, L 126
Talienwan, mines at, i. 187
Talmg Pass, ii. 175; Umeawa^
position near (about Oct
10), 180, igo-i ; fighting
at, Ota's gallanh *, and its
lessons (Oct j, 233-4
Index
885
d&ka. Captain, and the King|s
birthday, ii. 280; his
tliree poems on Kuropat-
kin and their translation,
286-7 ^f^oies
joeguchi, Major-General, Chief
Medical Officer, First Ja-
panese Army, i« 149, 15I1
i.ngei. General, Chinese Eastern
Flying Column, visits ex-
changed with, i. 163, 169,
his troops, 163-4, ^i^
geographical studies and
their result, 164
*ang Ho, in relation to battle of
Aug. 26, ii. 37 et s$q, ; Rus-
sians driven back across,
faniyama, Colonel, commanding
1 6th Japanese Regiment
at the Battle of Motien-
ling, i. 259 et seq, ; re-
marlcable march of^ 289 ;
at Chaotao, 295-^
Tapinrei, Russian position on,
penetrated (Jy. 24), i. 306
Tashihchiao, march to, of 2nd
Japanese Army, (Jy. 21), i.
285, battle near, (Jy. 24)
Fujii's news of^ i. 305-7 ;
town o^ burnt by the
retreating Russians (Jy.
25). 306
Tatsomi, Major-GeneraL com-
' manding Eighth Division,
Heikoutai, ii. 354
Taygunzi, Japanese occupation of
during the Chaotao fight,
L 298
TelisEU, Russian position south of,
L 185, battle at, 186;
Japanese victory at, 193-
4, 222; conditions leading
up to, ii. 330 ei seq,; jour-
ney to, 327, and visit to
the battlefield, 329^ 332
et,sef.
Temperance in the Japanese army,
ii. 283
Temples, old and new, on the
Motienling Pass, in con-
nection with the battle,
i.^«4 a seq,^ ^54, ^67, 270,
Tenlanjruan — Tsaofantun, line
forming 4th Army's objec-
tive (Aug. 28), ii. 67
Teraoutsi, Lieutenant-General,
War Minister, i. 19, 21,
ii. 156-7
Terayama, iL 189, Okasaki's fine
assault on, 193, 199, 206 ;
Japanese entrenchments
on (Oct 12), 309 ; author's
visit to, after the battle,
259
Tiensiutien, Russian detachments
at, i. 225; entire reserve
called up from (Aug. 26),
ii. 44, 54 ; strategical im-
portance of, i. 256, 307-8,
Tiger HiU, Yalu battle, i. 91 ei seq,;
manoeuvre against, in, loo,
Russian evacuation of,
and re-occupation, 204,
no
Tips, Japanese soldiers' disdain of,
ii 7, 26-7
Tirah campaign, lesson o^ as to
value of valley versus hill,
i. 278
Togo, Admiral, defeat by, of the
Russian fleet at Port Ar-
thur (Aug. 10), ii. 9
Tokayen — ^Amping line, Russian
menace from, i. 284, 319,
Russian retreat to, alter
Yoshirei battle, i. 362
Tokio, arrrivai of the author at, L
I, departure from, for the
firont, 44 ; farewell to sol-
diers at, 15, 44
Tolstoi, ciUd on effects of action
of isolated individuals
against masses of troops
endorsing author's own
view, i. 355 ; on the way
to check aggression, iL 53
Tori No Umif Japanese gunboat,
L 52
Toryako, Japanese troops from, at
Telissu fight, L 194
Towan, Russian forces at, i. 224,
2|o; Russian stand at,
after Motienling skirmish,
i- 239 ; Japanese firontal
attack on, success of, L
318
2 B
-i'V
1- «I7- »
A ^
2. iV. K
iifc 150; bea-iyf^.— -.5
at tOcL 11-12.. 255:
Rtissdas atmZerr attar k
aj Oct- If . rtj
irilj, Ge-tTil. aaed bis
trocps at ti.« baitle oC
Yoshirei 'JjIj 311,1-315.
239 rf «^t • a- 73
Li;. Rsssiaa troops firaci,
L:zh c-ia-ity ci. i- 303
n.^LTch of the Japzuese
en Cha3tao, a bnliiant
feat. i. 2^2
Twacilsa, Hajor, Chief Adjotant,
First Japanese Anny,
L 212
Twe«'foDteiii, a paraHeL L 360
903 Metre Hul, after tbe siece,
iLjob-gi valoor shown at,
350
*• Two- o* -clock - tn-the— moming
coorage," L 360
Umbxawa, General, aod his Bri-
gade at Yoshirei, L 318;
at Penchiho (Aag. 31), iL
82, 85, 89; they take it,
90 noU^ 92 ; advance o^
106, 1 19 ; fight of Sept. 4,
131 ; hu position (SepL
17)9 173 ^ ^•; lus clever
retresU, 177, and after,
180; position o^on Oct.
ft>io, iSo-i; on Oct 11,
I oo-i ; on Oct x 2 (at Pen-
chiho), 231; on Oct. 13,
247; an interview with,
304-5
Vallbys, waste of life to deploy
men in, i 278
I
I
ksaa {J J. 6 J. 2}':
313
\V
f-alrirtg and
(Oct 17,, it
r^ ~
209, Lcl:
W«^ Bdtisfa idea of, noc bam :^
by
215-6
haEnars** o^ L 235
Lx68
War Office, the, a good rod is,
L193
War-corre^KMidenfs, di£Bciiities
o^ dming the Mancbosi:
war, L 68-71 0tfassm
Wasoko, objective of 2nd Divisks
(Oct 3X ii- 244
Watanabe, Major-Geiien], L 6:.
146; Camp Commands:
at Head-qnarten^ Fss
Japanese Army, 149, 212;
information aflbcded by.
cm the battle of the Yalo.
73; skt HamatOQ ^i.
123-6 ; map of this ^
famished bj, 122 ; at Yo-
shirei battle^ 324 : coo-
man ding 2nd Brigade
Gnards, batUc of Aug. 26,
u. 54*56; the Gaards,hili
taken by (Oct 11), 194;
Index
387
t
-continued
successful attack of. on
HiU 238 and Hakashi vil-
lage (Oct 12), ii. 219-23
notes ; objective of (Oct.
13), 247
itazxabe, Sergeant-Major, a mar-
tinet, i. 280; compliment
by, on the King's birth-
day, ii. 288
aterloo, a parallel, ii. 231-2
'aziri Kxpedition, a parallel, L
347
^el-hai-wei, i. 211
/eining, crossing of the Taitsnho
at, by Rennenkampf and
his Cossacks (Oct. 8), ii.
2361 238
Veizugo, Russian resistance at
(Aug. 29), ii. 70
Welcome Farm ^South A&ica), a
parallel, 1. 346
White, Field-Marshal, Sir George,
i. 8z
Wiju, view from, i. 60; Japanese
strategy and minor tactics
at, 60-1; dirt of the town,
61, Japanese advance to,
182 et uq,, and concen-
' tration near. 86
Woerth, battle of, •* key " of, i. 94
Women of Japan, characteristics
of, 1. 17
' Women, when most appreciated, a
personal view, L 247
Yalu, battle of the, preliminaries,
course, i. 73 it seq^ ana
result of^ 1 32-4; Japanese
plan of the fight, 88 ; usts
of big guns at, 45
8oldier*8 model of, 155
Yalu river, first sight of, i. 80
Yalu and Yoshirei, battles of, Japa-
nese view of the relative
importance of, i. 320
Yalu— Aiho plain, features o^ i.
89-90
Yamagata, Marquis, President of
the Imperial Council of
Defence, i 19, 22
Yamamoto, Baron, Naval Minister
i. 19, 20
Yamorinza Valley, Russian retreat
upon^ i. 275, and position
relative to (Jy. 16), 307 ; in
relation to the battle of
Yoshirei, 316 W seq., 330,
331-2 ; Russian positions
barring, 323, 324 et sea.
Yasumura, Colonel, commanding
Himeji Regiment, Sank-
waisekisan fight, ii. 213
Yentai Coal Mines, ii. 93; Russian
menace from 96, 98-9,
104; fight of, 107; news of^
from Jardiue, 147-8; line
of Japanese Army from,
to rsdlway, 172-3; 8th
Division at, ii. 271 ; in
tense cold, and rifle meet-
ing at rpec.), 293;
Christmas Day in camp
at, 269-9 1 battle near
(Jan. 29, OS), 348
Yokohama Bay (Feb. 13, 05) '^ and
there an end," ii. 362
Yongampho, Japanese cavalry re-
connaissance at, i. 82
Yoshi, Lieutenant, derringndo o^
at Motienling skirmish, i.
«34-7
Yoshirei, Russians at, i. 225-230,
239 ; withdrawal of Rus-
sians from rjuly 26), 307;
battle of (July 31), 314,
details of, 315 et sea,;
four categories of tne
fighting, 318 ; author*s
comments. 337-8 ; results
of, and relative positions
of combatants, 362
Yushuling— Penling on the Shi-Ho,
Turcheffsky's position on
Oy. 31), i. 318, the attack
on, 344 et seq,
Yoshirei — ^Yushuling line, error of
Russians on fighting from
Oy. 31). ii- 73
Z£NSHOTATSUKO,knoll, carried and
held by Matsunaga (Oct
12), ii. 228
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